A Certain Mysterious Right Hand
by Petrikow
Summary: The fifth Holy Grail War ended in failure, just like all the ones preceding it. However, a series of events occurring in Academy City bring together the surviving participants of the ritual where they also involve some of the city's most notable inhabitants. As they struggle to stabilize the relation between Magic and Science, a knight of the lance is called upon to save them.
1. Prologue: The Eternal War

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Franchises represented in this work, namely: To Aru Majutsu no Index, Fate/Stay Night and Tsukihime

Additionally, I'd like to address one more thing before we start. I held off publishing this (Prologue & Chapter 1) because I believe the writing turned out horrible, but after sitting on it for a few weeks I decided to just go ahead anyways. Despite this, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.

PROLOGUE: THE ETERNAL WAR

- Silence in Fuyuki City -

Once again the Holy Grail War had passed over Fuyuki city, not leaving a single wish fulfilled, as had been the case with every single one of its iterations. Darkness too fell upon Fuyuki and life continued as it always would, with none truly understanding the incidents brought forth by the war.

Tohsaka Rin, one of the participants of the latest war, the fifth, stood together with another soul fortunate enough to have survived the fourth war, the bloodiest of them all. He was Waver Velvet, though now more commonly known as Lord El-Melloi the Second. Their task was now of clean up, as the Magician's association had budged under the pressure of the Anglican Church and ordered that the Holy Grail War was to be dismantled, having proven to be useless in its intended purpose, reaching the root, as not a single time had the war come upon success.

The Great Grail, the system the operated the war laid buried under the Ryuudou Temple in a great cave formed to access it. The decision to dismantle the grail had not been an easy decision with many believing it best to retrieve and examine it. Tohsaka and Waver were thus surprised to find that Fuyuki City seemed oddly absent of supernatural presence.

As they reached the cave housing the brain of war Tohsaka spoke up for the first time since they had arrived in the city.

"Hmmm… It might be a shame to get rid of it after all…" Tohsaka looked melancholic as the two walked down the dripping tunnels of the way. Her red robes and black hair still tied in girlish pigtails reflecting an odd green light that seemed to be emitted from the walls.

"I think any lingering doubts you have might be eliminated when you think back on what kind of experience the war was for you, or at least so I'd believe from the reports I got about it." Waver, despite his pro-dismantling stance, was still a little hesitant in his wording. In his dark eyes you could almost see the past play out, most prominently a large man with an equally large smile pushing Waver around.

"Well, you're right El-Melloi… It is just that this thing theoretically did work if not for the events of the third war. It's also a bit sad for me as a Tohsaka to personally have to kill off the Grail, something of our own design." Tohsaka looked over to Waver as she spoke, seeing him in his usual garb: a black suit without a tie and a red coat over it with a golden-yellow scarf wrapped around the neckline of the coat, his long brown hair framing his stern face.

"I know how you feel though; I too gained something I will never forsake during my war. It was a great idea after all, destroyed by our own defects." As Waver spoke those words they left the narrow tunnel and entered a great hall, as big as a school ground, with the dim green light not exactly serving as adequate lighting. Past this hall, Tohsaka knew, laid the Great Grail.

"It is odd though, I really expected more resistance from various other unaffiliated magic cabals but it seems that the magician's association took care of that for us." Tohsaka said this without with much thought behind it, the absence of such resistance was after all a blessing and there was no need to be suspicious of a blessing.

"I thought about that too… Could it really be such an easy explanation for it though? I know the Magician's association is influential yet I doubt they could orchestrate this to be as easy as it is for us." However, in comparison to Tohsaka, Waver with his experience in life, was suspicious of this supposed resistance's absence.

As they approached the end of the antechamber of the Grail's throne they started to quiet down, their footsteps echoing ominously throughout the hall. They could see the entrance of the throne room now, which exuded a little bit more light than the hall they currently occupied.

Both Waver and Tohsaka's eyes widened in shock as they entered the throne room. There was not a great demon about to be born from the vessel, nor had it already been destroyed. No, it was simply gone, as if someone had lifted it out with a construction crane. Of course there was no resistance to their mission, someone had already taken care of that and afterwards simply claimed the Grail for themselves. They had not only taken out the resistance, they had also erased any trace of there ever being one and then, without the Magician's Association noticing, stolen the Grail.

They looked, wordlessly on the place upon which the Great Grail had once stood and it was then that they realized that perhaps, the Holy Grail War would never be allowed to end.

- Activity in Academy City -

Academy City, located in Tokyo, Japan, it was a place in which it was said that scientific development was decades ahead of the outside world, a place in which the former magician Aleister Crowley made his home. A tall and ominous building stood upon the 7th district of Academy City, it had neither windows nor entrances and was said to be able to survive a direct hit from a nuclear weapon. The only way to get inside was via spatial manipulation, in many ways it almost seemed like a completely isolated world.

Inside was a similarly windowless room, wires adorned the ceiling and the walls while the floor looked like a red circuit board. In the middle of the room all the wires and tubes seemed to congregate, being attached to a large tube filled with a strange translucent liquid that seemed to be the sole lighting present. Inside this tube a human adorned with only a surgical coat, floating upside down, his features were the very epitome of uncertainty, a man yet also a woman, an adult yet also a child, a saint yet also a sinner.

In a past life this human was known as Aleister Crowley, a man who had reached the top of the magical world only to leave it shortly after. Now he was the General Chairman of Academy City, something he had constructed in Japan together with a close friend.

"Well it appears that he made his move, how rude of him to not take me into consideration, perhaps this acquisition no longer requires him to get my attention." As Aleister spoke several holographic computer screens appeared in front of him, floating in mid air.

"Still… To fool everyone so thoroughly, I am impressed, but such a trick won't work on me." More screens filled the empty space in front of Aleister as he spoke.

"I am truly impressed, it seems the plan will have to get quite a radical overhaul, it has been a while since someone caused so much trouble for me, well, it's nothing I can't handle, but I have to say that I never expected such a bold move, even if you get away with it I think that you'll find the trouble more than it's worth." Of course Aleister's words didn't reach the person he was seemingly conversing with, however two other persons were standing in the room, uncomfortably absorbing the information that was being transmitted.

The first of them was simply the guide into the windowless building, a female level 4 teleportation-style ESPer that had enough range and expertise to get people into the place.

The other person was a young man with rugged bleached hair and a pair of sunglasses, wearing a simple summer school uniform.

"I don't think you called me here to monologue at me, General Director, is there something you want?" The boy spoke, he wasn't even of mature age yet but still he spoke to the mightiest man in all of Academy City with a tone of nonchalance.

"Ah, you are here, it seems the Grail has been stolen, simply put, we need to perform some measures to draw the best card." Aleister uttered this mysterious sentence and as he put his eyes on the boy the screens floating around him started disappearing one by one.

"The Grail?" The boy rose an eyebrow in confusion "Wait, you mean that old ritual in Fuyuki? Is it even possible to steal something like that? Besides how do you know this? From the way you spoke before it seemed like you almost personally knew the guy who stole it, wouldn't mind telling me?" A myriad of questions left the boys mouth after Aleister had spoken the word "Grail".

"Hah, knowing his name would cause you more misfortune than it would be worth." Aleister simply shrugged off most of his questions with this cryptic phrase.

"Well, let's just get down to what you called me here for, it seems like it's at least related to the Grail, am I right?" The boy simply accepted that getting any concrete information out of the General Chairman would be impossible for now.

"Yes, the purpose of the Grail is obvious, he's simply just going to use it like it was used in the previous wars in Fuyuki, but, if my assumptions prove to be correct, it will now occur on a larger scale. In a way he is such a simple person, pursuing a goal that is meaningless in the first place, unable to let it go." Aleister showed a rare moment of emotion as he uttered those last words, a brief contraction of the irises was all that could be observed.

"Well, if I remember correctly that means that Heroic Spirits are gonna get summoned right? You think this person will arrange for the Holy Grail War to have a servant summoned here? Is that what you mean by 'drawing the best card'?" The boy looked skeptical as he asked about the Grail.

"So it seems, if I have gauged his intentions correctly, if not, it hardly matters, I have already predicted the course of action in that case. Well, I'll go through what exactly I'll have you do but in short you simply have to gather a certain catalyst and deliver it to a certain location at a certain time, I don't expect you'll find too much resistance, but remember, this is a mission of complete secrecy, just be cautious to not be detected by any other magicians, your companions at the church of necessary evil especially." In this manner started Aleister's instructions and when he was done he left the boy to his own thoughts and had him escorted out of the building via teleportation.

The boy saw the guide of the windowless building disappear into the crowd as they entered the street, oddly enough not choosing to teleport a second time.

_Very impressive Aleister, I knew you were a master at adapting your plan to any sort of event, but to be able to act so quickly without hesitation, you sure are a dangerous person. _The boy simply walked along the central street of District 7 as he thought about what had been said to him, it was sunny outside, the middle of day, and the modern streets shone ever so brightly under the sun.

_Still, he didn't say anything about not leaking the information on how this new Holy Grail War is going to play out, and considering his earlier comments I am fairly confident that the Magician's Association doesn't know about it_. The boy walked down into an underground subway station, which enjoyed a large amount of passengers at this hour. He simply swiped his ID card, walking past the barriers and into the paid area while waiting for the ride that would take him to the 23rd district, the area in Academy City that contained the majority of the airports there.

_I guess I'll just tell them if they ask me about it. Still, I'm a little concerned with how Aleister is going to cover up my absence in Academy City. _The underground train arrived and he entered the modern piece of engineering, a train far more efficient that the ones in the outside world. There wasn't a single seat available so he simply leaned up against the wall right next to the door. The train sped up and started racing towards its destination

_Well, this mission certainly is interesting, I didn't know his knowledge of Heroic Spirits was this broad; well actually, it seems any knowledge he holds is broad. _When he arrived in District 23 the airport was naturally nearby, however, the boy didn't need to actually enter the airport, he simply got escorted by a pair of military looking people as soon as he left the subway station, being taken directly to the airplane that was to be his ride. The plane was an advanced flight craft, capable of mach 7 speeds; it was an uncomfortable but fast method of travel.

As he entered the airplane there was but one last thing on his mind:

_India was it?_

The start of a new cycle approaches, when science and magic clash, the tale will begin.


	2. Ch1: 100300 Grimoires and The Chaos Pt1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Franchises represented in this work, namely: To Aru Majutsu no Index (which belongs to ASCII Media Works), Fate/Stay Night and Tsukihime (which belongs to TYPE-MOON aka Notes Co., Ltd.)

CHAPTER 1: 100300 GRIMOIRES AND THE CHAOS

PART 1: LAIR OF THE BEAST KING

- Midnight raider -

Kamijou Touma's existence was definitely one of misfortune. He had always been kind of normal, normal looks, normal smarts and normal physique, however, the one defining feature that truly signified whom he was, that was his absolutely abnormal misfortune.

Basically, Kamijou was extraordinarily unlucky. Yes, the situation he was in at the moment clearly made that ever so evident. He was being chased by 8 delinquents after a certain incident at a restaurant. He could hear their enraged cries reverberate throughout the back alleys they were chasing him through, telling him things such as 'Get back here ye fuckhead!' and 'You're the king of pussies, runaway king!"

There was simply no way a single normal high school student like Kamijou could fend of 8 delinquents by himself, thus the only way to achieve victory was to run away and hope they just gave up. Just a single normal high school student, he was not some kind of runaway martial artist that fought for justice nor did he have some kind of ability that could turn the situation around.

'_Aaahhh! Such misfortune! I didn't think my life could really be this misfortunate! Why does it always feel like a surprise, I really should expect it by now!'_ Kamijou turned onto a main street, causing disinterested pedestrians to take took a quick look at him as he sprinted across the street, heading for another dark alley, intending to escape to the large bridge.

'_I guess this is what they mean by "No good deed goes unpunished"' _Kamijou had been really happy, the reason for this being that is was July the 19th, the start of summer break, so what had he done? Well, Kamijou had simply tried to celebrate the start of summer by taking a little bit to eat, his budget had not really allowed it, but to commemorate this day he had permitted it. So he sat down at a restaurant and right before his food had been delivered to his table that was when he saw a bunch of drunken thugs, most probably Skill-Outs, harassing a certain middle-school girl sitting on another table. He knew that girl; she wore a beige and white school outfit with a short skirt and ornate decorations and had shoulder-length light-brown hair and a pair of determined eyes that matched the color of her hair. That was when Kamijou had thought '_Hey I might need to help out here'. _

What Kamijou had not known was that 6 of these thugs' friends would be coming out of the toilet right on time to interrupt his sentence – "I think you guys ought to leave this gal alone or else yo…" – so that they could fully misinterpret it to their heart's extent.

Now there he was, running along the darkening streets, trying to get away from a bunch of drunken Skill-Outs during the first day of summer semester, July the 19th. Not only that, but he had not gotten to eat either, and was ironically a dine-and-dasher too, running away without paying for an unconsumed meal, as if fate had not been cruel enough already.

'_It just HAD to be July the 19__th__; it's got to be July the 19__th__'s fault.' _Kamijou was a normal high school student, black spiky hair, a school summer outfit comprised of a white tee and a pair of ordinary jeans, kind of averagely built, not too tall, nor too short.

The moon revealed itself as Kamijou continued to run along the dimly lit dark alleys. The erratic footsteps of his chasers seemed more distant than before, however, the calls of the delinquents did not, bouncing around in the increasingly cramped corridors of the alley. The great three-bladed wind generators that loomed over the city watched his struggle while happily spinning on, basking in the pale moonlight.

"YA LITTLE SHITSTAIN, YA AIN'T GETTING IT EASIER FOR RUNNIN' AWAY LIKE THIS!" Other inflammatory insults were thrown around throughout the alley. Unlike these people, Kamijou was good at running, it was the one skill that he most often called upon to solve his problems. On the other hand, the delinquents were out of shape, had bad footwear and a smoking addiction probably did not help them either.

'_I'll gladly acknowledge that I'm a big loser, but at least I'm nowhere near these guys' level!' _At least thinking as such granted Kamijou a tiny bit of solace in his current predicament. It was summer, yet he had gone to a restaurant by himself, he was not exactly living his life's happiest days as one should be doing during summer break.

At this point, Kamijou was feeling well about his chances of escaping this evening unharmed. Yes, perhaps his act of mercy would've been enough to convince the universe that he did not deserve all of this. As he turned right he entered a main road again.

"You guys are honestly so stupid, you monkeys, be glad you weren't hurt at all and thank me already!" Kamijou had stopped temporarily to utter this mocking phrase, victory already having intoxicated his senses, as he started running again he also began to laugh scornfully.

After about 2 kilometers, Kamijou began to tire, his entire body covered in sweat. He had left the urban area and was approaching a river that that was ominously still and dark. Atop the river was a 150 meter long iron wrought bridge, strangely old fashioned compared to the more modern look that the rest of Academy City had.

As he stepped onto the bridge the calls and profanities spat out by the delinquents tailing him had completely died out and now the night had returned to its usual monotone of silence.

"Ahhh… I guess they finally gave up…" Feeling tired, Kamijou decided to take a quick sit down on the bridge, leaning against an iron beam and uttering a satisfied sigh. To be able to solve this without anyone getting hurt, that was something that he truly felt proud of.

Kamijou sat there in silence. It was late now, having been chased for a few hours he thought himself worthy of some rest, even if it was in the middle of a bridge. But could a being like him, whom held the greatest of misfortune in the world, actually be undisturbed for so long?

It was a truly quiet night, as if someone had robbed the noise from Academy City. Kamijou was finally getting a little bit concerned about falling asleep on the bridge and as thus he stood up and was just about to start walking home. But he could not walk, the air was oppressive and the reason for that was making itself apparent.

In front of Kamijou stood a tiger, it was not a simple tiger though, it was easily twice as large and most strikingly, it was not the usual striped orange, white and black color, but pitch black. It did not seem like it had noticed him, just walking across the bridge, sniffing the air, searching for something. But as soon as Kamijou fell out of his instinctually fear induced paralyzation and took a single breath, the black tiger whipped its head around to meet his eyes. It looked truly angry, its nose wrinkled and its mouth hanging open in a maddened sneer.

There was a brief moment of absolute silence, for Kamijou, time felt like it had stopped, filling him with an indescribable terror.

It pounced, moving at a speed far surpassing that of any normal life, trying to dig into Kamijou's left calf. However, the right hand of Kamijou moved before the tiger had readied its legs, seemingly moving on its own, to protect his leg from the assault. Surprisingly, the Tiger shattered and turned into a goopy black substance as soon as it even grazed the hand.

Yes, on the surface, Kamijou was completely normal human being, something which was in fact an anomaly in Academy City, the only place on earth that had an "ESP development curriculum". Kamijou, just like the simpletons that had chased him to the bridge in the first place, was a Level 0. This designation was like an insult, even though you had undergone the various procedures and physical alterations required you still exhibited close to no power; that was why the Level 0s did not even receive a number, just a meaningless concept that literally meant nothing.

Still, a Level 0 had power, however miniscule it was, Kamijou had been repeatedly told that he was the weakest of ESPers, even among the Level 0s, he could not control any facet of the little amount of power he possessed, it did not help him get better grades, it did not help him with scoring girls, it definitely did not help him with fending off 8 drunk delinquents in the middle of night. But right this moment, this miniscule power had saved him from this unnatural beast. The scientists had called it "Imagine Breaker", the power to nullify other ESP phenomena, the power to break the illusion of the supernatural. It only manifested on one part of his body, nowhere else… the right hand.

"What… was that..?" Kamijou, still sweating from terror, sloped down on the ground in surprise. The black goo that had once been a tiger of obsidian hue was still there, but as soon as Kamijou tried to examine it closer by leaning forwards it began to slightly shake, causing ripples to oscillate throughout the goo. It then simply started crawling along the metal until it picked up an immense speed and disappeared from Kamijou's sight, as if attracted by an extremely powerful magnet.

'_It must've been some kind of ESP, not one I've ever seen, but then again, there's 1.8 million ESPers in this city, of course I can't know who it was… Why attack me though? Is it just one of the higher levels bullying me; a lowly Level 0?'_ Kamijou stood up again, this time really intending to go home. Fighting ESPers for no reason late at night was never beneficial to anyone, especially not to Kamijou.

Even though it was dark, he could feel it, the presence of someone watching, it was not something he felt often, in fact, he was rather bad at the whole intuition thing, at least when it came to normal stuff. Kamijou looked up, sitting at the highest point of the bridge, was a crow, it was black, of course, however, it was the same kind of unnatural black that had characterized the tiger. It stared at him from that high vantage point, Kamijou meet its gaze, someone was clearly somewhat interested in him, spying on him and even attacking him.

"Leave me alone, I'm just going to go home." Kamijou said this in a voice that was far too low for the bird to hear, but as if on command, the crow took flight, leaving the bridge for Kamijou only. True to his word, Kamijou turned around and started walking back the way he came from.

'_Well, with my luck there is no way it would be that easy…' _These thoughts entered Kamijou's mind as he stared down the pathway of the bridge, the far end of it blocked by more of these enigmatic black animals.

"Ahh, I just wanted something to eat, escargot hell-lasagna and a bitter melon… it would've been so good… Such misfortune…" Kamijou scratched the back of his head as he muttered these regret filled words. He lifted his gaze to match the animals that were observing him from a distance.

There were three of them, a bear, a bull and a crocodile. It was a very strange collection of animals, to say the least. The night was permeated by a thick oppressive darkness which seemed to block out all sound, there was definitely something unnatural occurring and Kamijou's hand was twitching slightly, barely able to contain itself from lashing out at the irregularities that had created this mood.

They did not wait for him, instead opting to attack, the bear leading the charge, opening its mouth to unleash a hellish roar at him. Kamijou only had one option, running away like he used to was not the one, they were too fast, so it came down to the right hand of exorcism, the Imagine Breaker, Kamijou's only power and protection. His body braced itself, entering a pose reminiscent of a goalkeeper in soccer anticipating a shot.

The bear reached him frightfully quickly, barely before Kamijou was able to react, trying to maul him right in the chest with its enormous paws, however, the Imagine Breaker was already in motion, having reacted before the huge beasts attack was even apparent, it reached out and "parried" the maul, a normal person would've been wounded severely, but as soon as the paw was struck by the Imagine Breaker the entire bear lost its form and turned into the same formless goo that the tiger had been composed of, its momentum causing it to wash over Kamijou's body, but not sticking to his skin in the slightest, as if it was the oil to his water.

The attack was not over, as soon as the bear disappeared Kamijou could see the form of the charging bull that had been just closely behind the bear's charge, it was fast, far too fast to normally react to, but Kamijou did not need to think, his hand had already detected the threat and moved without any hesitation after it had destroyed the bear, getting right into place to block the horns of the approaching bull with the flat of his palm. Just like the previous animal it turned into a black gooey substance as soon as it made contact with Kamijou's right hand, but he could feel a very slight prickling pain in his hand, a little bit of the bull's momentum having survived the nullification of its being.

The third strike came just as the bull was about to lose its form. From a low angle, the black crocodile tried to bite onto Kamijou's left leg and immobilize him. It came too quickly, even though Kamijou's right hand seemed to move as if predicting the future, it still only had the speed of a human arm, the drastically different angle that the crocodile attacked from meant that the hand could only reach the head of the large reptile right as it enclosed its maw around Kamijou's leg. Kamijou felt a little bit of pain right as he grazed the crocodile's head, it was the last attacker to turn into a puddle of black sticky goo. Had he been but a millisecond late in touching the crocodile, Kamijou feared that he might have lost his leg, the maw of the beast had actually touched his skin, but before the full attack could be carried out, the right hand had performed its duty.

'_So close, ahh… but it still hurts a little…'_ Kamijou had not even moved a single step back during the attack, letting his right hand simply seek out the path to victory, though in his mind the battle had felt minute-long, in reality only two seconds had passed since the bear charged. His body was stiff with fear and adrenaline after the assault resulting in Kamijou almost feeling the need to collapse on the ground but shook such unnecessary thought out of his head and started clumsily moving his body to get home before any more of these animals found him. The Imagine Breaker ensured that but a single touch would defeat them, making Kamijou very adept at "killing" these monsters, but he was still human, and these beasts were far faster, stronger and more agile than anything of nature, thus he could not fight any more than the amount that he had just destroyed at once without threat of getting mortally wounded or killed.

He was finally able to leave the bridge, as Kamijou left, he heard the unnatural slithering of the gooey substance sliding across the steel bars of the large structure until they picked up speed and disappeared into the darkness of the night.

'_Is this the work of a Level 5? Ugh, that would just be my luck… What're their powers now again…? Man, I can't remember that well despite there only being like what, 7 of them…? Let's see, number 3 is that biribiri girl with her lightning… Number 1… Umm… I can't remember anything! Why did I sleep through all those lectures?_' Kamijou tried to make sense of the situation as he was running through the deserted streets of the urban area of District 7. That was when he realized, Kamijou had been running for a few minutes now, trying to get back to his dorm, yet he had not seen a single soul on the streets and the only sounds were those of his feet hitting the asphalt road.

'_Shit, shit, shit, something is definitely wrong' _Panic spread throughout Kamijou's face and he picked up his pace, frantically trying to get home as quickly as his body allowed him to. The large modern skyscrapers of Academy City were completely devoid of any light, casting their shadows on the streets, partially obscuring the little light provided by the moon causing the street lamps eerie orange glare to be the main source of light on the streets. It was a strange occurrence, as if everyone in Academy City had went to bed at the exact same time.

Kamijou passed by the entrance to a back alley, almost radiating darkness. What struck him was not the darkness though, rather, it was the first time he could hear anything since leaving the bridge that was not his own footsteps, a strange sound, like a faucet clogging with dirt while water was pouring through it. Kamijou hesitated, but ultimately stopped, just as he did so something pounced with an immense force trying to hit him square in the head. Kamijou closed his eyes and instinctively reached up with his right hand to block the assault, slightly losing balance from the shock. The creature violently crashed onto his right hand and turned into black goo that split into two directions after colliding with the Imagine Breaker, leaving Kamijou completely unharmed.

'_Was that… a cat? Some kind of really big cat… A panther maybe… Well it doesn't matter…' _It had been too quick; he had not been able to make out its form. He opened his eyes again and glanced down the alley from which his assailant had emerged. It was hard to make out but the orange light emitted from the street lights that could just barely reach into the small entrance of the alley illuminated a slight red color contrasting against the boorish dark grey of the pavement. Upon further inspection there was but a single severed finger lying in the blood, perhaps more of the body could have been found if Kamijou had walked further into the alleyway, but Kamijou was very certain, from the silence, that it was not someone that was alive.

'_Ah, shit, this is really not my day, shit, I really want to help out if people are getting killed, but I don't even know what's going on… I need to find someone to talk to, Anti-Skill, Judgment, whatever…' _Kamijou was just about to start running again as he heard something behind him, it was not especially loud, but for Kamijou, it sounded like death itself. He quickly turned around and saw several animals emerging out of the shadows of the night, being put to view by the unnatural orange light that seeped out of the street lamps.

"Heh, hehehe… Such misfortune…" There were 10 of them, far too many for him to fight head on, even with his Imagine Breaker being more deadly to them than any other close-combat weapon could ever be he still did not stand a chance against this number.

'_At least not on this terrain… If they attack me all at once from every side, I'm toast.'_ These creatures always seemed to study the environment and their prey before attacking giving Kamijou just enough thinking time to formulate a plan good enough for hopefully surviving.

They acted at the same time, Kamijou dove into the alley with the blood and the creatures pounced, some hitting the position that Kamijou had just occupied. As he entered, Kamijou accidently stepped on something that made an uncomfortable squishing noise, obviously the body that the large cat thing had killed, but he could not stop, he simply ignored it and continued forwards in the tight alley. It was harder for the creatures to proceed in the tight space as a group, which had been Kamijou's intent. Just as Kamijou, running full speed, looked over his shoulder to confirm their position, a small, in comparison to the other beasts, monkey appeared right in front of his eyes, it had probably been able to navigate the corridors of the alley far easier than the others due to its size. Just before it was able to dig into Kamijou's face with its tiny, deadly digits, the right hand of exorcism, the Imagine Breaker, slapped it away, causing it to splash against the walls as it turned into the sticky material that comprised these strange beasts.

The primal snarling and roars of the remaining beasts could be heard, just a few moments away from catching up with him. Just as they were about to sink their massive claws, teeth and horn into him the alley split to the right and left allowing Kamijou to frantically roll to the left while the remaining animals crashed into the wall and each other, breaking a gas pipe in the process. Kamijou quickly got up and tagged 5 of them with his right hand as they were trying to regain their momentum and then rolled back further down the alley so he could not be reached by their counterattack.

There were only a few left now, four to be precise, a manageable number for Kamijou. He stood up just as a wolf launched itself at him, intending to bite his neck off with its powerful bite. The right hand was already in motion though, moving forward as if to generously offer itself to the maw of the beast. The wolf was gone, its momentum once again carrying the goo slightly forward onto Kamijou like a harmless splash.

It was far from over though, behind the wolf came a deer, its horn readied for a head-on collision with Kamijou, much like with the bull on the bridge, the right hand simply readjusted itself and took the deer's assault head on with the flat side of the palm, neutralizing another one of the beasts into harmless goo.

An ostrich pecked at him from above, it was frightfully large, and so strange for the situation that Kamijou almost froze up; thankfully, his hand did not, reaching upwards to protect his head from the assault. However, by now the animals seemed to have understood that his hand meant absolute defeat and so the ostrich abruptly halted its head's descent. This was his limit though, and the next moment a goat slammed into his stomach, it was the most painful thing Kamijou had ever endured, his mouth opened and spat out blood and saliva as he was knocked farther down the alley. He was just able to graze the forehead of the goat with his right hand as it had collided with him, leaving only the large bird as the goat exploded into black goo.

However, now the situation was really bad, Kamijou was on the ground as the ostrich ran forwards and then came down upon him with its powerful pecking attack, intending to finish him off by aiming at his heart. Kamijou could not stretch out his arm in time to block it but was able to slightly dodge to the side with his body on the ground, just enough to avoid certain death, it left a shallow wound on his upper left body, but it had been enough, the Imagine breaker had already been on its way and just before the Ostrich could retract its neck again the right hand struck the neck, releasing the obsidian ooze from the body of the ostrich which flowed over Kamijou, but never sticking to him.

'_That… was even closer… than last time' _He was sweating profusely, from both physical strain and fear. There was no time to rest though; being inactive right now was paramount to a death wish, so Kamijou rose up, panting, and continued his escape… from what he did not really know.

'_I don't want to involve any of my friends if whoever controls these things are exclusively after me… I guess I can only rely on Anti-Skill…' _ Kamijou was in bad shape, the wound he had received from ostrich was only a surface wound that mostly just hurt, but the impact from the goat had obviously done more damage than he had initially assumed, it had fractured something in his ribcage and he felt very nauseous, it was a wonder he had been able to fight off that last ostrich and those rarely presented itself for Kamijou.

Kamijou stumbled forth as fast as he could, one hand on his ribcage, trying to reach the exit of the alley and then seek out a nearby Anti-Skill department. Just as he could see the exit he could also see what guarded it, a humongous black Rhino stood there, far too large to actually enter the back alley.

'_Heh, unless he has friends this is almost an automatic win, 1 on 1 with these things I'll always win…' _Kamijou smiled and picked up his pace intending to simply charge through the Rhino with his hand outstretched. The Rhino simply stood there, calmly staring Kamijou down as he approached. Naturally, the Rhino burst into goo as soon as the Imagine Breaker touched it. However, the Rhino was so big that the goo enveloped all of Kamijou's body for a brief second, never actually sticking to him but it was enough to make Kamijou lower his guard for a moment during which a large body slammed into him from the left side of the street which Kamijou had just entered. It hurt, it really did, but it had not been as bad as the goat's attack, the creature had missed slightly, grazing off of his left arm and slamming into a trash bin, Kamijou was not the only one who had been disoriented by the large amount of goo.

Kamijou regained his footing as the large amounts of goo produced by the death of the rhino hit the street. He looked at the creature that had charged him in the goo, it was a great panther. They had both regained control of their bodies and were staring each other down. The panther was naturally the first to act, pouncing once again, this time with a clear view of its target. It would have surely killed Kamijou if he had not brandished his right hand as a shield and made it lose its form, producing even more black goo together with the rhino's.

The amount of adrenaline in Kamijou's system kept him going, he knew District 7 really well, having been chased all over it by almost everyone at one point or another. The Anti-Skill department building was close by if he simply kept going forwards and then swung left on the intersection.

'_I guess there are no more beasts nearby, I doubt they've lost track of me or that it was the last of them though, considering that crow from before… Better keep running' _Yes, for once, fortune smiled upon Kamijou, he did not encounter any beasts on the way to the Anti-Skill department building. He ran on the empty streets, the occasional lamp post lighting the streets with its orange stare, the silence and darkness once again triggering his paranoia

'_It's truly odd, where the hell is everyone… what's actually going on?' _No matter what, Kamijou could not give up his hope of finding help. He turned left as he approached the intersection and entered the street that housed the Anti-Skill department building, he still could not hear any signs of activity, but the place was supposed to be open the entire night.

Kamijou walked onto the steps of the entrance to and tried to open the double door into the department building and he had really kind of felt it coming, as the entire building was dark, but the doors did not budge. There was no one there, or at least no one that cared.

A sinking feeling entered Kamijou's stomach, this could be it, he did not really know what could help him if Anti-Skill was not even open at this point, Judgment definitely would not be open either if Anti-Skill was not. Now the feeling had reached its apex, enough that Kamijou could name it… Despair.

'_What the fuck am I supposed to do now? I'm in bad enough condition as it is! No way am I fighting off another 10 of those guys.' _Along with despair came frustration, but Kamijou knew he had to get going so he simply walked down the steps again and was about to take off when he heard it.

The silent tapping of several animals' feet entered his ears. One by one they came into view on the broad street as they exited the darkness and entered the street lamps, painting them in an ominous orange light. So many, so different, from all over the globe, Kamijou swore he could identify a kangaroo among them. This time there was not a convenient alley to jump into and with the doors to the Anti-Skill department building locked, Kamijou was truly surrounded, left without any hope.

'_Damn, this sucks… July the 19__th __… This is all July the 19__th__'s fault… Ah, such misfortune' _These thoughts could have been Kamijou's last, but instead, something else happened. A great fire exploded into his view, all of Kamijou's vision was filled with this unnaturally strong light as the fire covered the entirety of the street that lay before him. It was hot, so hot, Kamijou felt so hot, and he instinctively reached forth with his right hand as if to abate it. He could hear the shriek noises of the black beasts burning in the flames. The scent of the strange substance that they were composed of was equally strange when burned, its enigmatic daft entering the air as they were grilled alive.

The right hand that Kamijou had stretched out to shield himself from the flames had surprisingly yielded quite a nice effect, he was no longer that bothered by the flames and he dared open his eyes more. Kamijou peeked between his fingers, trying to behold the spectacle that ensued in front of him.

'_I don't recall knowing any fire based ESPers…' _The street continued burning before him, however, the sounds of the beasts cries of pain stopped as they were fully destroyed and in their wake Kamijou could hear calm footsteps approaching his location, right in front of him, a large man stood among the flames, completely unharmed. He looked like a shadow inside the flames but as he came out of the inferno Kamijou could make out his features, long red hair framed his face and rather strikingly, he had a barcode tattoo under his right eye, his eyes were slightly lazy, as if disinterested in the whole thing. He was easily 2 meters tall, though his face seemed to indicate that he was pretty young. A simple black robe enveloped his abnormally tall body and in his outstretched right hand, which itself had several golden rings on the fingers, he held a strange card with an ornate red star printed onto it. The man removed from his mouth, a lit cigarette which had been dangling on his lips, placing it between his fingers and then pointing at Kamijou with it.

"Hey, I came here to get you, Um, Touma was it? Whatever. Just follow me obediently okay?"

They were not especially friendly words, though a hint of laziness permeated the sentence, Kamijou definitely felt a hint of anger in it.

Yes, Kamijou Touma's existence was definitely one of misfortune.

- Seeing through the masquerade -

Kamijou had tried to talk to his rescuer, who had just briefly introduced himself as "Stiyl", whether that was his first or last name, Kamijou did not know, as the red-haired man seemed like a foreigner. He was not really the talkative sort and seemed kind of ticked off that he had been saddled with the duty to rescue Kamijou. He had not even offered Kamijou any support with walking, despite his injuries. Luckily the two of them had not been attacked ever since Stiyl had rescued Kamijou at the abandoned Anti-Skill department building.

"So where are we going anyways?" Kamijou knew in what direction they were headed, it was still dark but he could make out the road which lead up the hill that his dormitory was placed on, which seemed strange; it was not a particularly special place, not one that could hide them from the beasts at least. Stiyl clicked his tongue, apparently annoyed at the prospect of talking.

"We're going to the place where my accomplices are, if you're hurt or something I'm sure one of them will be able to patch you up, no complaints right?" Stiyl did not even look at Kamijou when he spoke instead he had just picked out a cigarette pack from within his robes, pushed out a single one, put it between his lips and then lighted it with his fingers, inhaling the smoke with a relaxed expression on his face.

"You better answer some of my questions too! I'm not just going to go through this like it doesn't concern me…" Kamijou was persistent and it showed on Stiyl's face that he would rather just smoke his cigarette in peace than deal with all of Kamijou's queries.

"Well, we're almost there, I'm sure Rin will be happy to answer anything you have to ask, she always does… If we decide that you're important enough that is… Well that's up to Motoharu I guess…" Stiyl uttered the last part of the sentence a bit quietly, enough so that Kamijou just could just barely hear it and then put his cigarette back into his mouth to take another whiff.

"Wait what, Motoharu? You mean Tsuchimikado Motoharu? Like, the Siscon Sergeant?" Kamijou was very aware of a person named "Motoharu", it was the first name of his closest neighbor and classmate, rather infamously known for being lazy and loving his adopted sister a little bit too much…

"Urgh, yeah, but shut up, I don't feel like talking no more." Stiyl simply uttered a groan of impatience and then shut Kamijou up, but for Kamijou, such a development was very curious, this meant that they were certainly headed for his dorm, as Tsuchimikado lived next door to Kamijou.

'_I didn't know that Tsuchimikado had such strong ESPers as friends, I always thought that he just hung out with me, Aogami or his sister… I guess it makes sense though, he's always been a kind of strange dude in our school…'_ As Kamijou was consumed by thoughts they finally started approaching his school dormitories, a simple H-shaped building with an entrance in the middle with several verandas lining the outsides. It felt very odd to for Kamijou to be home on such a dangerous night. Even though he knew exactly where Tsuchimikado lived he still followed Stiyl obediently into the building and into the lift, which took them to the floor that Kamijou himself lived on. As they approached the dorm room that Tsuchimikado lived in they could hear chatter from within.

Stiyl knocked lightly on the door that belonged to Tsuchimikado and the chatter was briefly interrupted as Kamijou could hear footsteps from the other side. The door swung open and a familiar face greeted him, it was naturally the owner of the room, Tsuchimikado Motoharu, a boy the same age as Kamijou, going to the same high school. He wore a rather flamboyant green aloha shirt that revealed quite a lot of his chest together with a pair of simple shorts and sandals. In front of his eyes were a pair of sunglasses, his trademark, night, day, winter or summer, he always wore them. His hair was obviously bleached and much like a model's, giving him a pretty nice but sort of "trying-too-hard" look. His face was handsome and his smile was wide as he greeted Kamijou.

"Yo, Kamiyan! It's a pleasure to see you're not dead… I guess I gotta thank Stiyl for that. Thanks Stiyl!" Tsuchimikado briefly averted his gaze from Kamijou as he thanked the tall red haired fire conjurer.

"Yeah whatever…" Stiyl did not really seem to care about his friend's kind words. Stiyl took the cigarette from between his lips, dropping it on the floor before stepping on it to extinguish it and then impolitely walking past Motoharu into the high school student's room.

"Well, Kamiyan, welcome in! I'm sure you're pretty confused, I knew that the day would come anyways, so I'll explain what's going on this fateful night… Man, you look terrible by the way, I guess we can do something about that, but… just come in, come in!" Tsuchimikado did not seem terribly different from his usual self, then again, had Kamijou expected something else?

"Yeah, excuse the intrusion…" Kamijou stepped into the room past Tsuchimikado and took off his shoes as he heard the door being closed. Inside there were four people, not counting Kamijou and Motoharu. On the bed at the end of the room, near the entrance to the balcony, was Tsuchimikado Maika, she was fast asleep and did not seem to be the least disturbed by the preposterous amounts of guests that currently occupied the single room apartment.

On the floor, sitting idly on a bunch of pillows were three people that Kamijou had not seen before this night, one of them was naturally Stiyl, who had rescued Kamijou from the black beasts. The other two were female; one looked rather young while the other one looked to be in her twenties. The older one had a very refined look, red robes with black and gold ornaments that covered the entire body. Her hair was black and it flowed behind her back, just reaching the floor while she was sitting. She had a very feminine and fair face accompanied by a pair of sharp looking blue eyes.

The younger person looked like she was in a very special nun's habit. Its main color was white instead of black with golden ornaments where the usual nun's habit would be white, its color scheme being very reminiscent of an expensive teacup. Her hair had a very special light blue color which was also rather long, almost reaching the floor. She had a gentle face and eyes that matched her hair color. She looked, much like Stiyl, like she was not Japanese… in fact it was pretty easy to tell that she was not.

"Ah Kamiyan, I guess I gotta introduce you to my dear friends. The beautiful one in red is Tohsaka Rin and the little nun over there is… uhhh, Index Librorum Prohibitorum... Oh yeah, Rin-chan, you can turn on the bounded field now that Kamiyan is inside by the way" Tsuchimikado stood over by the kitchen, leaning against the counter, pointing to the person he was referring to while speaking while the both of them exchanged greetings with Kamijou as Tsuchimikado introduced them.

"Yeah, I know, I already did it. That right hand is actually pretty interesting. I didn't think it would be able to nullify my bounded field." The person known as Tohsaka Rin spoke after Tsuchimikado, with a tone that seemed somewhat nonchalant and casual, not really befitting her noble posture and appearance. Kamijou noticed that the both of them spoke of this "bounded field", a term he had never heard before and did not have a single clue what it implied.

"So, what's going on tonight? What're all these black animals doing on the street? Why was everyone gone except for me? Why are you guys not sleeping like everyone else?" Kamijou took a seat right by the TV, facing the other three guests as he spoke.

"Well, Kamiyan, as you see, Maika is asleep, the higher ups used a… uhh… security feature, which caused everyone to go home and sleep. Your right hand cancelled the effect, which is why you were abandoned on the streets as prey for those black beasts… as for where they came from…" Tsuchimikado trailed off, trying to find the right words but before right before he was about to speak up again Tohsaka interrupted him.

"Tsuchimikado-kun, if you intend to tell him about this incident anyways, why don't we go through the basics first?" Tohsaka's voice was still rather calm, as if this was something she was used too. Kamijou had absolutely no idea what was going on now.

"Okay, okay, I guess that's fine, but can't you patch up Kamiyan first?" Tsuchimikado complied rather easily with Tohsaka's request. Kamijou looked at Tsuchimikado, expecting him to bring out the first aid kit that all dorm rooms were supplied with, but he simply stood still, staring at Tohsaka.

"Alright, he doesn't look that badly off so I guess it'll be easy, why don't you start explaining to him Index?" Tohsaka said this, but she did not have any medical supplies either causing Kamijou to briefly wonder if she was a healing type ESPer. Tohsaka moved behind Kamijou, pushed him forwards and touched his neck with her right hand just as Index started talking.

"We're magicians" This simple sentence was the first thing that popped out of her mouth. Kamijou just looked up in surprise eliciting a small "huh?" causing Tohsaka to lose hold of him which consequentially prompted her speak up.

"Hold still, Kamijou-kun, also, take off your shirt so I can fix you up." Tohsaka, nor anyone else had reacted abnormally to the sentence that the tiny white nun had uttered which convinced Kamijou that they actually believed this.

"Wait what? You're magicians? You don't mean ESPers? I know you're an ESPer, Tsuchimikado, what the hell?" Kamijou spoke after he removed his T-shirt at Tohsaka's request after which she placed her hands on his injured ribcage while murmuring something that Kamijou could not quite make out.

"Calm down Kamiyan, just listen for a bit, she's not lying." Tsuchimikado put on a rather rare serious tone to his voice as he spoke up, looking straight at Kamijou as he did so. He then motioned to Index to continue explaining.

"As I said, we're magicians. Stiyl, Motoharu and me are from the church of necessary evil; Necessarius. Rin works for an organization closely tied with us, the Magician's Association. Magicians have been a secret ever since the witch hunts that started in Europe several hundred years ago." Index did not talk especially excitedly, rather stating all these outrages claims as if they were irrevocable fact. She stared calmly at Kamijou before opening her mouth to resume talking just in time to get interrupted again.

"Huh? Magicians? Do you mean that you can use magic or something?" Kamijou looked doubtfully around the room, trying to pick up any cues that would reveal that they were just joking around. Index just stared at him unconcernedly while Tsuchimikado lowered his head and sighed, Stiyl simply shook his head and pushed out another cigarette from his pack.

"Look, Kamijou-kun, I'm pretty sure that Stiyl showed off his flashy flame spells when he fetched you, besides, I'm using magic right now to heal you…" As Tohsaka spoke, Stiyl put the cigarette between his lips and lit it on fire using his fingers to conjure a small flame. Tsuchimikado frowned at the gesture.

"If you want to smoke Stiyl, please do so on the balcony, I don't want Maika to catch any second hand smoking." Tsuchimikado motioned to his sleeping sister as he spoke. Stiyl wordlessly stood up to his full frightening height and walked to the balcony's entrance, ducking slightly to get through it without hitting his head.

"Yeah, well, but was just ESP right? Fire ESPers are pretty varied too, there's more than a few of them. Tohsaka-san's healing could be ESP too! And you also have your Automatic-Rebirth right?" Kamijou desperately tried to fit the foreign phenomena into his own world view which was regulated by science.

"I think you already noticed, but Stiyl is a foreigner, Necessarius is based in London, ESP is predominately Japanese right, being restricted to Academy City…" Tsuchimikado saw the doubtful look on Kamijou's face and sighed again, not determined enough to finish his sentence.

"Ahhh, Tsuchimikado-kun, you're so bad at dealing with these kinds of situations. Listen Kamijou-kun, you know that an ESPer can only have a single power right? Well, magic doesn't have that kind of restriction… While Stiyl is pretty much only good at blowing stuff up using his fire based spells, I for example can use a myriad of spells with decent effect. I'm pretty much done with healing your gravest wound so I'll show you something." Tohsaka sounded slightly frustrated at her companion's bad explanations and decided to take matters into her own hands. Kamijou was simply skeptical, his ribs felt fine now, so at least the healing worked.

Before Kamijou could interject, Tohsaka had already stretched out her hand and started murmuring something vague after which a globe of fire started hovering above her hand.

"This is the most common form of magic, elemental magic, usually magicians are aligned with one out of five elements, most commonly called, fire, water, earth, air and ether. Stiyl is obviously aligned with fire, but I happen to be a rare case that is aligned with all five." As Tohsaka finished her sentence she murmured something quickly again, and this time the globe of fire in her hand was doused and replaced with water that came pouring out from the faucets of the room, forming another orb in her hand.

"While an alignment doesn't determine what kind of magic you can use, it does determine what kind of magic you're good with, thus most people tend to specialize down one path to achieve the best result they can, which is why Stiyl is so boringly one-dimensional, well, that's one of the reason at least…" Stiyl could obviously hear their conversation from the balcony, but did not seem to particularly care, just blissfully continuing to smoke his cigarette, exhaling the smoke now and then.

"I… see… I think I'm missing some big part here but I guess I can accept that magic exists for now… So what about the person attacking the city with those black beasts? Is that guy a magician too?" Kamijou was feeling nauseous, he continued staring at the orb of water which hovered slight above Tohsaka's palm, almost mocking his entire outset of the world. Tohsaka murmured something again, and the water floated away to the sink in the kitchen and fell down. But before she was able to answer the question Index had already opened her mouth.

"It's a Dead Apostle, specifically, Dead Apostle Ancestor number 10; Nrvnqsr Chaos, former name: Fabro Rowan. He became a Dead Apostle through magical means and has absorbed countless life forms into his Reality Marble, Lair of the Beast King, in order to become a perfect life-" Kamijou was utterly befuddled, terms that he had no idea what they meant, being thrown at him with machine like precision. The small mouth of Index moved with absolute confidence, as if reciting lines to a play, but before she was able to finish her sentence Tohsaka interrupted her.

"Slow down, Index, you're not making any sense to this poor guy. Well, Kamijou-kun, basically, what attacked you were the familiars of a vampire, you know those scary bloodsucking creatures. It was not an act of animosity, he was simply trying to feed, nothing personal you know? As for why you were left on the streets while everyone else went home, well Tsuchimikado was the first one to realize that would happen, which is why he arranged for Stiyl to go and fetch you." She looked over to Tsuchimikado, silently urging him to continue the explanation. As Kamijou looked over to Tsuchimikado he sighed again and lowered his head once more.

"Hmm, how about getting something to eat, you look hungry Kamiyan. Besides, it's easier to talk while relaxing at the dinner table." Tsuchimikado was apparently not particularly thrilled with the whole magic thing and instead offered a simple commodity: food. Right on time, Kamijou's stomach growled, having been deprived of its meal earlier that day. Not only did his stomach growl but the small nun that had been so serious this entire time looked up with stars in her eyes and practically yelled at him.

"I think that's a great idea, Motoharu, I am hungry as well, please make me something good!" Index was far too excited about such a trivial issue but her enthusiasm instantly caused Tsuchimikado to change his serious demeanor to his usual cheerful self.

"Hahaha, if such a cute girl demands it guess I can't refuse! But Index, I'm sorry to say that I don't really know how to cook, Maika does that for me. I was thinking of getting out some instant noodles." Tsuchimikado laughed as Index expression turned sour, probably dissatisfied with Tsuchimikado's lack of cooking skills, but she did not complain, probably hungry enough to satisfy herself with the cheap ware. Kamijou did not especially care either way, he was starved regardless.

"Hey Tohsaka, you want some? Oh and Stiyl too, maybe?" Tsuchimikado was waving around a bunch of ramen packages while derailing the subject from magic, if only momentarily. Both Stiyl and Tohsaka quietly declined, but Stiyl at least came back from smoking on the balcony and sat down at the living room table, staring intently at nothing in particular, Kamijou had first thought that he just did not feel like communicating, but he had a face full of concentration, clearly occupied with something. Kamijou thus bent over and whispered to Tohsaka.

"Is he doing something? He looks so serious…" Kamijou pointed discreetly at Stiyl, not wanting to draw his attention or interrupt whatever he was doing. Tohsaka looked a tiny bit surprised, maybe slightly amazed that Kamijou had noticed.

"Yeah, he's monitoring the bounded field we set up… Oh yeah, you don't know… Hmm, a bounded field is a spell that monitors and causes a certain effect within a set area… The one that the three of us set up around this dormitory simply hides any magical presence, but the one that Stiyl is concentrating on is a larger one that was set up by Tsuchimikado in advance to monitor any magical presence inside this District of Academy City so that we can detect any enemies, think of it like radar." Tohsaka explained it in a very friendly way. She clearly had come to enjoy explaining these sorts of things to inexperienced people, as her smile widened deeply as she spoke, looking almost nostalgic in the process, causing Kamijou to idly suspect that she might be a teacher of sorts. Tsuchimikado was busy cooking the noodles, not paying any heed to the conversation while Index had slumped over the table, uttering vague phrases about food.

"Oh yeah, Tohsaka-san, you said those beasts belonged to a vampire, and he was… feeding right? Were they trying to suck my blood? Wait… now I remember, I almost forgot because I was so scared, but I found a dead, half-eaten body in a back alley, that's not very vampire like… right?" Kamijou suddenly started thinking about his desperate escape through District 7 in more detail, having been too panicked to consider any details when he was running.

"You heard what Index said right? This particular vampire is called Nrvnqsr Chaos. He holds the position of tenth among the Dead Apostle Ancestors, a designation given to only the mightiest and oldest of vampires. He's a bit of a special case too… Normally you become a vampire by being bitten by one right? I guess even you'd know about that, but Nrvnqsr turned into a vampire by using magic. In any case, he needs to sustain all those animals you encountered, it's said that he has 666 of them, so he consumes his prey whole, eating their entire bodies." It was a disturbing sentence, eating humans alive in order to survive, but Tohsaka uttered it with a cheerful little smile on her face, just like everything else she had explained to Kamijou.

"Wait, wait, are you kidding me? He's going around killing people in the night and we, the only ones that know about him, are sitting around doing nothing!" Kamijou raised his voice which caused Index to snap up and look at him, but just before he was able to continue, Tsuchimikado arrived with two bowls of noodles, really emphasizing the "doing nothing" part that Kamijou spoke of.

"Don't worry, Kamiyan, I can empathize with you, but you're already underestimating us. We already rescued you, right? Stiyl is currently monitoring Nrvnqsr's movements using a bounded field I set up in preparation of any kind of incident, I'm sure if that guy did anything outrageous, Stiyl would tell us. In fact, let's ask him. Hey Stiyl, you look serious, anything going on…?" Tsuchimikado put down the two bowls of instant noodles in front of Kamijou and Index and then looked over to Stiyl who was still kind of staring into nothingness. It took a few seconds, but Tsuchimikado's sentence finally registered in Stiyl's head and he blinked awkwardly before giving them a status report.

"Well, he's attacking one guy…" The brief sentence elicited a surprised reaction from all of them, except for Index, who was absorbed in consuming her instant noodles. Right before the three of them could react in a panicked fashion Stiyl quickly finished him sentence.

"But Nrvnqsr is not doing any damage. I can still feel this person's signature, no matter how many creatures that attack him, in fact, he's fighting them back somewhat…" It was odd, not only had this person been unaffected by this "security system" that had put everyone to sleep, but he had also been able to survive outside for so long. Stiyl himself seemed to be the most perplexed by this, his voice sounding very uncertain of what he was reporting.

"Ah, of course, there's always him, well don't worry about him… I think Nrvnqsr will find that he's more trouble than he's worth." Tsuchimikado was in the process of fetching his own bowl of noodles that he had left in the kitchen, magician or not, he could not carry more than two bowls of noodles at a time.

"What do you mean, Tsuchimikado? You know who it is?" Kamijou asked this and looked curious, even the other three magicians looked slightly puzzled at Tsuchimikado's vague hints as to what was happening. Tsuchimikado casually picked up his bowl of noodles and turned around with a smile on his face.

"Of course I do! You should know him as well, Kamiyan, if you pay any attention to Academy City internal politics that is… It's the strongest level 5 ESPer in Academy City, The Accelerator!"

- Introducing the strongest -

It had not been a particularly thrilling night for the number one out of the seven Level 5s. He had finished his daily routine and went home, intending to sleep, but was unable to do so, being almost physically burdened by boredom he had went outside to catch some air only to find that even though it was the first day of summer vacation, not a single person was occupying the streets.

'_What the hell? Is something going on?'_ He was the strongest in Academy City, slightly below average in height, the features that made him stand out the most however, was that he was effectively an albino. Short white straight hair, matching pale complexion and a pair of red sharp eyes, if not for his decidedly manly way of dressing and behaving, he could have passed as female, with his thin waist and long legs. On this lonesome night he wore a pair of normal grey jeans and a black t-shirt with white sharp lines on it.

He himself could not even remember his own name and it did not seem anyone else did either. He was most commonly referred to as "Accelerator" or "The Accelerator". It was a name he liked, dramatic, vague and easily misinterpreted but most importantly, it gave him a quality that he otherwise could not achieve, the illusion that he was a different existence from anyone else.

Accelerator did not have "enemies", in his eyes, an enemy was someone he considered a threat, but for as long as he had lived, not a single person had been able to live up to that distinction. He had lived with his power for a long time, the strongest power in Academy City, and just as it could not give him enemies, in addition it also disallowed him allies; he did not need them. Many people would perhaps look upon him with pity and think, "such a lonesome existence", but Accelerator was not particularly bothered about it.

Nevertheless, there he was, strolling around the streets of District 7, looking for a convenience store that was open. When Accelerator had nothing to do, he almost subconsciously tried to locate a place that sold coffee, it was probably the closest thing that could be considered normal about him and one of the few qualities that proved his humanity. Accelerator really liked coffee, all kinds of coffee. He would try out a new brand of coffee every week or so, and when he grew tired off it, try a new one, it was something he had done for a long time.

To his disappointment, he could not find a single open convenience store, though most of them closed as evening turned to night, a few of them stayed open during the night, Accelerator had made an effort to remember those few places that did as he often walked around at night. Yet, strangely enough, all of them were closed, with not a single employee having remained.

'_What's going on? Why is it so dark on a summer night? Where is everyone? I was actually kind of looking forward to some coffee…' _Despite his many queries, Accelerator did not really bother to find out what had happened, he was a passive existence, letting problems find him and not the other way around. He was on the large main street that had one of the main vehicular roads of Academy City going through the middle of it. Some of the city's largest sky-scrapers surrounded the road, the darkness making them look like a wall of giants peering down at the path that Accelerator walked upon.

Accelerator sighed and turned around, intending to head back to his dorm room. At long last he could finally see something coming out of the shadows, prowling in his direction, it was clearly not human. Accelerator did not show any signs of noticing it, just calmly walking forwards, deliberately ignoring it, his usual course of action these days.

The creature eyed Accelerator suspiciously as he walked almost completely in front of it, just passing by it. It was probably far more confused at Accelerator's way of behaving than Accelerator was at seeing a black praying mantis the size of a human on the streets. Even when Accelerator had his back to the large insect it still did not attack. Accelerator walked on for a tiny bit before at least lifting his head slightly

His vision was rapidly filling up with even more of the black beasts. They were to his front, to the sides, in the air, surrounding his completely, there were birds, mammals, insects, reptiles and even a shark that had somehow been able to make its way to the streets. The ominous orange light of the street lamps gave them an otherworldly glow. But for Accelerator it did not matter, he just marched on, intending to go home, maybe read a book to alleviate his boredom before heading to sleep.

In the exact same moment, every single one of the beasts pounced on Accelerator's location, completely covering him, rendering his view to nothing but a black mess. It all lasted but a brief moment though, with every beast that had attacked Accelerator being throw away from his body. He on the other hand, was completely unharmed, in fact, his motion had not even stopped in the slightest, still walking with a disinterested grimace on his face. Shockingly, the beasts seemed to have been the ones injured by the attack that they themselves had launched.

This is what made Accelerator the strongest Level 5 in Academy City. He was the owner of a unique kind of Telekinesis called "Vector Manipulation", although his power was restricted to things that were very close to him, it still was the strongest power in Academy City. Due to his own mindset it affected anything that came within 1 cm, his effective range, automatically, heat, motion, energy, matter, all of them were set to get "reflected", he even had to consciously let things like gravity, light and sound affect him, it was _that _absolute. He was untouchable, completely sealed off from the normal world. But simply "reflecting" vectors was not the only application of his power, as a Level 5 his power had almost no limitations, anything that came close enough could be completely manipulated, if Accelerator touched you for a fraction of a section, you would be done for, there was almost not a single power in Academy City that could take but a _single _hit from him. The ultimate defense and the ultimate offense, Accelerator truly deserved the title of "Strongest in Academy City", a title which not a single person came close to challenging him for.

Accelerator kept walking onwards, intending to get home, but the beasts were persistent, challenging again and again, despite suffering more and more injuries as they attacked, some had even been severely injured, a black ooze the same color as their hide seeping out of their wounds instead of the usual red liquid prevalent in most animals. Their numbers increased, there was almost up to 50 of them now, attacking him in a swarm of teeth, claws and horns, their anguished cries echoing across the dark streets as they attacked him only to get hurt in retaliation. It took quite some time, but after 10 minutes, Accelerator finally acknowledged their existence by stretching out his right arm, grabbing an incoming attack, nullifying it, but using the excess force to trap the creature in between his fingers, then using some of the force from the other beasts' attacks to throw it with immense force into a nearby abandoned café, breaking the windows and a few walls.

"HAHAHAHA! INTERESTING! IT HAS BEEN A WHILE SINCE SOMEONE TRIED TO DEFEAT ME SO PERSISTENTLY! Ahhhhh… Show yourself ESPer… I hope I'm right in guessing you're somehow responsible for causing the streets and shops to be so hopelessly abandoned this night." As Accelerator talked he continued actively destroying the beasts, swatting some away and destroying the insides of others by manipulating their inner circulation. It was not even a fight. Accelerator effortlessly destroyed every single one of the 50 beasts that had pestered him.

Accelerator stood alone in the destruction, the corpses of the beasts laid around him in a mess, some were crushed, others were cleaved in half and a few had been blown to pieces, forming a brutal picture of violence around the strongest Level 5's figure. After a few short seconds, the goo started moving towards a unified direction, slithering across the ground in a strange fashion. Accelerator's eyes followed their movement and looked in the direction they were heading in. The road that Accelerator stood on was enveloped on all sides by large skyscrapers and about 20 meters in front of him was a bridge, standing proudly over the road, it was there to take people across the streets during heavy traffic, but right now, it was where all the black goo was heading, converging under it. There was not enough light to see what exactly they were absorbed into, but Accelerator could guess that a person was hiding in the shadow of the heightened walkway.

After all the black goo had disappeared into the shadow of the bridge, a tall man stepped out of the darkness, showing his features to Accelerator under the orange light of the street lamps. It was such a decidedly inhumane appearance that Accelerator was almost surprised. This person's face was definitely masculine, a very strongly square jaw together with a sharp but big nose accompanied a wide grin which revealed teeth that looked more like a sharks than a humans. The complexion of his face was light grey, with a few stripes of dark grey stretching from his neck. His eyes were in comparison pretty normal, just a bit dark. His hair was a different shade of grey, slightly darker than his skin. But what made this man so strange was the fact that his entire body was covered in an enormous dark blue trench coat, which showed a small amount of his body underneath, this body was completely black, exactly the same color that had characterized the strange animals that had assaulted Accelerator.

"I have deemed you interesting." His voice was deep and booming, and his tone was one that indicated that he did not really leave anything up to discussion. Though he had been grinning before, his face turned dull and expressionless as he talked. Accelerator simply sneered at his arrogance and tried to get something out of him.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Challenging me, Accelerator? Are you some Level 4 who finally surpassed the threshold to reach Level 5 and intend to climb the ranks quickly? Huh? Well… I'm sorry if I don't know you, but I don't give a shit about the trash under Level 5!" Accelerator gesticulated wildly as he spoke to pronounce the utter idiocy of the one that stood before him.

"It matters not. I have simply deemed your ability to deflect physical attacks as interesting." The man spoke again, casually brushing off Accelerator's insults and queries as if they were as important to him as last year's newspaper.

Accelerator was just about to speak again, but the man had already lifted the coat that covered part of his chest with his left hand. Out of his frontal body grew a large serpentine head of similar black color as the rest of the beasts. It was similar to a snake but its scales looked as if they were carved out of a mountain, heavily pronouncing all the curves of its being and giving it a more robust look. It completely stopped the sentence that was about to come out of Accelerator's mouth and replaced it instead with a single thought.

'_Is… that a dragon?'_ Just as Accelerator finished thinking, the supposedly mythological being opened its jaw and let out a terrifying and thunderously loud roar, enough to surprise Accelerator at its intensity, causing him to take step back. But most frightfully, a beam of pure fire accompanied the shout and it completely consumed Accelerator, melting the asphalt of the road under his feet. The storm of fire stretched a few hundred meters behind Accelerator, the small part of the beam that hit him was reflected back at the dragon, but it did not do much, instead being pushed back again by more flames. The inferno lasted only for about 5 seconds, but destroyed an enormous part of the road. As the carnage subsided, both Accelerator and the man stood completely unharmed. There was not even a hint of a reaction on the strange man's face, he just stoically watched Accelerator whom had taken this absolutely monstrous attack without even a scratch.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I can see why you talked so confidently, this amount of destruction is definitely higher than that number 3 is capable of. But what the hell is your power? Materializing animals? How could such a lame power be so great? Well, I guess if you can make mythological ones it's a bit more impressive!" Accelerator was for once pretty excited, he had not encountered anyone able to surprise him for years yet this person had shown the ability to astonish Accelerator with both persistence and power, for Accelerator, this night was shaping up to be a good one.

Accelerator decided to see how this man could take a hit and simply charged off the charred ground using vector manipulating to boost his speed. His right hand brandished in an open fashion instead of a fist, yes, there was no way too block Accelerators attack, so for him, reach was the most important. Despite Accelerator approaching at a dangerously high velocity, the man with the coat stood still, his face ever so stoic.

'_Does this guy have a death wish?' _These were Accelerator's thought right before the hand slammed onto the man's body, ready to distort all the vectors inside and at least knock him unconscious. It would have at least, but the man had disappeared just right before Accelerator's hand was able to catch him, having inexplicably disappeared into the ground.

Accelerator looked behind himself just in time to see the man appearing from a black puddle on the ground, this time with four giant cicada legs sprouting from his back. Accelerator was quickly able to gauge in what way he would try to attack.

'_Aiming for my ears huh, I guess that could be seen as a weak spot, but I can ward myself from that as well.' _Right before the large legs could begin their deadly song by stroking themselves at each other, accelerator disabled sound vectors and the world turned completely quiet, not a single peep made it into his ears now.

"-" Accelerator could see the man's mouth moving briefly in the same stoic fashion as it had before however, with sound disabled he did not know what the man had said. Now Accelerator felt blessed, a huge smile making it onto his face, to have a challenger that actually tried exploiting his weaknesses was exciting, but for Accelerator to also block any such attempts, yes, he felt really happy, his position as the strongest would surely never budge.

With the sound attack rendered harmless, the man simply started attacking, from Accelerator's perspective, like normal, but with several bigger animals mixed in rather than the small fries that Accelerator had first dispatched off. It would've felt like a desperate attack, but at this point Accelerator could guess that the man had another plan, the same stoic fixture on his face, as always.

An alligator about three times bigger than was possible for that species almost forced its way out of the man's body, having to use its claws to push itself out of the darkness under the coat, launching itself at Accelerator at an immense speed, trying to simultaneously swallow him and dig into him using its teeth. As soon as the alligator made contact with Accelerator, the massive force that it exerted was immediately turned back on itself, resulting in the teeth of the large beast shattering, and the jaw dislocating.

The body of the alligator fell onto Accelerator forcing him to catch it and throw it to the side in order for it not to hinder his vision. Birds of all sizes slammed into him with their beaks while more animals attacked him from every direction, none of them doing absolutely any damage, instead turning into pieces of black formless flesh as Accelerator slew them. But they were too many, they swarmed him from every angle, he could not personally deal with more than a few at a time, the ones that remained simply colliding with his body and suffering from damage caused by their own attacks.

They kept coming in the hundreds. Some creatures were not even real animals, much like the dragon, originating from myths or legends. Among one of these was a unicorn that majestically charged him with its black horn shining proudly, reflecting the moonlight. But it did not make much of a difference, Accelerator's ability made strong foes his best ally, the unicorn, much like every other animal that had attacked him, experienced the recoil of its own attack, the horn breaking and the neck bending unnaturally, becoming yet another beast that laid unmoving around Accelerator.

'_Ahh shit, I got too worked up when fighting, what's he thinking? He should realize that this is useless… No… He's got to have a plan, this person doesn't seem too stupid… wait… don't tell me he intends too… Hahahaha… HAHAHAHAHA! Such an insane tactic, this guy really has me figured out, to think that he would consider to…'_ More of the beasts launched themselves to their death as Accelerator was thinking. However, at this point he had stopped killing them, instead stretching his arms out in a mocking gesture. Accelerator began to speak in a haughty tone.

"You're the best! YOU'RE THE BEST! TO THINK THAT YOU WOULD FIGURE ME OUT SO SOON! THAT'S RIGHT, I, ACCELERATOR, STILL HAS TO BREATHE LIKE ANY OTHER HUMAN! SO DROWNING ME UNDER A MOUNTAIN OF CORPSES WOULD STOP MY INTAKE OF AIR!" Accelerator laughed madly as the hundreds of dead animals around him started blending into each other, forming a large soup that consumed his form whole. He did not even know if the man had replied back, his vision blocked and his sound voluntarily turned off.

'_Now then, time to figure out how well thought out this plan of his is…'_ The mass of bodies seemed like they had merged together into one solid blanket of disgusting obsidian-colored flesh. Although it could not fasten itself onto Accelerator, his vector manipulation making that impossible, it still followed him if he tried to move forwards, intending to surround him until he stopped breathing. It also did not exert enough force on him to get reflected away all at once.

'_Hmm, taking full control of the vectors seems impossible as well, the movements of this strange mass of animals is too chaotic for me to calculate satisfactorily… He's pretty good… I'm pretty close to dying right now… Wait… if he can't cling to me the solution is simple…'_ While Accelerator was thinking, more and more animals entered the mass of flesh, intending to form an inescapable prison. However, Accelerator believed he had the solution to his dilemma, he bent down slightly, taking a position that implied that he was about to jump. And he did, he flew through the air with an immense force, having turned off gravity's influence on himself to make it impossible for him to lose any momentum. The blanket of dead animals tried to desperately cling to him as he ascended into the air, but was not big enough to envelop Accelerator at the height that he had climbed to. He balanced his upwards movement by turning on gravity slightly until the forces upon his body reached 0, at which point he turned off gravity again, producing an intimidating effect that made it look like he "stood on nothing".

"WONDERFUL PERFORMANCE, BUT MY POWER'S POTENTIAL IS ENDLESS! I APPLAUD YOUR STRENGTH, YOU HAVE PUSHED ME TO A LIMIT NO OTHER BEING HAS!" The man that Accelerator was addressing did not seem to be paying attention to his words, just apathetically staring at the seemingly weightless ESPer with his dark pair of eyes. After a short period of inactivity from the both of them, he finally spoke up.

"My name is Nrvnqsr Chaos… remember it well… if you manage to survive that is." As he uttered this arrogant sentence, the mass of dead animals, which was now as big as a bus, sprouted a pair of enormous bat-like wings. Of course no ordinary wings could carry such a massive thing like that ball of black, sticky flesh, it was fortunate then, that these were no ordinary wings, rather, they were the wings of the dragon that had showered Accelerator at the start of the skirmish with its breath of destruction.

'_Oh shit, if that thing can fly and I'm just helplessly standing around in the air I'll get caught again, and this time, I wont have an escape route… I'll be captured and deprived of oxygen… air… wind…_' A wicked grin made it onto Accelerator's face. He had experienced a wonderful revelation concerning his powers. It almost pained him that he had not thought of it before, but then again, his power was so overwhelming that he rarely needed to even lift a finger in a fight, never before had he been pushed to experiment with vector manipulation.

The mass of flesh achieved flight, the great wings of the dragon flapped mightily, blowing away dust and other loose materials on the wide road. It had its aim set, heading straight for the position in which Accelerator was hovering. It flew with an uneven, strange speed; it was after all, just a blob with wings. But it did not hit, Accelerator had disappeared from where he had previously been idly hanging still in the air, now four thin raging tornados were on his back, oddly curved as to push him away from the position which would've meant certain death.

Accelerator flew with a great velocity, aerial movement was a new thing for him so he lost control and slammed into a nearby skyscraper, it did not hurt him, but it did leave himself open for the great flying blob to attack. The mass of flesh had already curved around and changed it path, heading for the side of the building which Accelerator had clumsily collided with.

'_Shit!' _Accelerator took control of the wind again and formed the four tornadoes on his back, pushing himself off the building to avoid the incoming flesh blob, which violently slammed against the skyscraper, damaging the exterior even more than accelerator had, making shards of glass shower the streets. Accelerator made a sharp turn in midair, setting his aim for Nrvnqsr Chaos, intending to end the fight.

The great blob had recovered and was already on his tail, but the wind pushed Accelerator at a speed which it could not achieve, victory was imminent for Accelerator. He approached the street, flying right above ground level, heading straight for Nrvnqsr, who still looked completely unfazed by Accelerator's actions, even in the face of apparent death.

Right as he was in front of the dark man, Accelerator stopped, channeled the wind vectors along his right forearm and horizontally slashed with it at Nrvnqsr's body, slicing him in half. The upper part of his body soared through the air and landed slightly behind his lower body, which stoop eerily still, the legs still maintaining their balance somehow. The blob that had chased accelerator crashed onto the ground as well, its massive weight causing the asphalt of the road to get disfigured even further.

"Well, I guess it's a shame I had to kill you. I would've spared you but you didn't make things easy for me. Hopefully the leadership of this city won't charge me with the collateral damage…" Accelerator was simply thinking out loud, not expecting an answer. He turned his back on the body of Nrvnqsr and was just about to walk away when he could hear it.

"It was interesting, sadly the time of night is up and I have to go for now." The same booming voice that had addressed him infrequently during the battle could be heard again. Accelerator turned around, shock actually making it to his face. Nrvnqsr Chaos was alive, the head that was seated on his upper body still somehow functioning, having turned around to look at Accelerator.

Suddenly the lower body that was still standing upright turned into the same black goo that Nrvnqsr's animals were composed of, surging across the ground to return back to the upper body. But not only that, the mass of flesh with dragon wings was returning as well, turning into a long stream of black goo, entering the upper body, which was starting to stand up again. The process took but a few seconds and afterwards, Nrvnqsr Chaos stood tall, completely reformed, looking just like he had when Accelerator had first seen him. There was still no emotion on his face.

"Farewell, Strongest in Academy City." After acknowledging Accelerator's status in the city and biding farewell, he turned into a black puddle and disappeared into the darkness. It was only now that it became clear for Accelerator that this encounter had not exactly been between two humans. Being the number 1 ESPer in Academy City essentially also meant that you were the number 1 genius in Academy City, despite this, Accelerator had no idea what kind of Existence "Nrvnqsr Chaos" was.

In a way it had been an idiotic fight, neither of them had possessed the ability to do the other any circumstantial harm, but they had continued, because it had been "interesting".

"Well, I wonder if the shops will open now… I really feel like getting some coffee…" Still, Accelerator was unfazed. The incomprehensible person that had appeared before him on that night had not bothered him at all. He stood at the top. The Strongest in Academy City had no enemies, because no one could threaten him.

- Magicians on the unfortunate night -

Stiyl reached into robes and, rather freakily, picked out what looked like a dead bird. It was a simple pigeon, its legs and wings were tied together using a bunch of string. Stiyl removed its constraints, stood up and then walked out to the balcony again, he then held out his cupped hands upon which the motionless bird lay. After a few seconds, the bird came to life and flew away. Kamijou had looked at the entire thing with morbid curiosity. Tohsaka had noticed Kamijou's confused look which prompted her to explain.

"Ah, you're probably wondering what he's doing, Kamijou-kun, that bird is a familiar that Stiyl has. He's going to use it to spy on this "Accelerator" person and Nrvnqsr Chaos, you see, magicians can link their nerves with a being that has been attuned to their magical circuits… well whatever, basically, he can see what it sees, get it?" Tohsaka explained with her overly cheery voice, these concepts that, at this point, were completely new to Kamijou. They were eating cheap instant noodles, an oddly relaxing thing to do, at least for Kamijou, after such a stressful night.

"Didn't you say that Stiyl could only use his fire magic, Tohsaka-san?" Kamijou asked a question in-between chewing down a bunch of noodles. Index and Tsuchimikado too, were happily eating away, especially index. She had finished her bowl way before anyone else and pressured Tsuchimikado to make her another one, something which he had complied with. Maika was still sleeping soundly, it was truly unnatural, anyone would wake up with this kind of commotion around them.

"As I said before, your alignment doesn't determine what kind of magic you can use, merely what kind of magic you're good with. Besides, your alignment might be named after a classic element, but it covers more than simply conjuring its namesake, fire, for example, is said to cover consumption, heat, energy transfer, those kinds of things. But I guess it's true that Stiyl is only really good at blowing stuff up using his offensive fire spells, but if he couldn't even produce a single familiar, then he shouldn't even be allowed the right to be called a magician." Kamijou uttered a quiet "hmm" after she was done explaining but ultimately continued eating his noodles, half of his bowl already gone.

"So, Tsuchimikado, shouldn't we help Mr. Number 1? You think he's going to be alright?" Kamijou pointed at Tsuchimikado using his chopsticks as he asked the question. At the same time, Stiyl returned to the table, he closed his eyes as he sat down though, probably concentration on watching his familiar.

"Nah, he'll be fine, his powers are really good at defending. Besides, you're forgetting that it's summer Kamiyan, we have nature on our side." Tsuchimikado said something weird as if it was completely natural, smiling as he did so.

"Huh, summer? I mean, yeah of course it's summer, but what does that matter?" Kamijou simply looked perplexed. It was absurd of Tsuchimikado to just assume that Kamijou would understand everything about magic after such few explanations.

"Hehe, even you should be able to figure this one out! Think about it, what's a vampire's number one weakness, Kamiyan?" Tsuchimikado seemed to be in a good mood, offering to explain it to Kamijou like an elementary school teacher would.

"Uhh…? Silver…? Crosses…? Garli- Oh! You mean sunlight, right!" As Kamijou listed things he thought vampires were weak to Tsuchimikado shook his head at every incorrect guess until he got to the last one, at which point Tsuchimikado spoke up. Tohsaka was patiently listening to their little conversation, resting her chin on her hands and with a gentle smile on her face.

"Yep! Vampires only act during the night because they're afraid of the sunlight, direct exposure to it will accelerate their aging process by several orders of magnitude. As for why it's good that it's summer, well, the night is the shortest during the summer, right? It's simple!" Kamijou reflected on this and came to the conclusion that he really could have figured it out himself. Magical stuff was surprisingly easy at times.

"Besides, it was good that he interfered with Nrvnqsr anyways…" Tsuchimikado said this, but it really sounded like he was not speaking to anyone in particular, just talking out loud. Stiyl opened one of his eyes as Tsuchimikado spoke, apparently considering paying attention to the conversation now.

"Huh? What do you mean Tsuchimikado?" It was something that Kamijou probably should not have asked, as the mood turned grim as soon as he did. Even Index slowed down in eating her noodles and Stiyl shifted the focus of his one opened eye to Kamijou. Tsuchimikado and Tohsaka simply sighed.

"I mean Nrvnqsr attacking Accelerator is actually pretty beneficial for us, it gives us more time. Don't see it as cold-heartedness; I'm confident in his survival." Tsuchimikado had lost his happy tone for some reason, speaking once again with a voice that demanded a serious atmosphere. Unexpectedly, Stiyl decided to finally say something out of his own volition.

"Tell him why, Motoharu. Tell him why it was beneficial." Stiyl was speaking with a condescending tone of voice, closing his one opened eye after he was done talking. Tsuchimikado initially just stared at the fire magician for a few uncomfortable seconds before sighing once again and then turning his gaze to Kamijou.

"Truth is, we would've been attacked by Nrvnqsr if it hadn't been for Accelerator. You should've realized by now right? There's no coincidence, Nrvnqsr isn't here just "because", he came here looking for us, more specifically, Index. It's a really annoying political situation between magicians that caused this. You see, Index has something stored in her memory that is very precious in the magical world. She's called Index because she holds 100300 grimoires inside her head, magical books. It was an insane idea to begin with, most people can't even handle reading more than a single one, but she has almost every single one imprisoned in her head. You remember right? Nrvnqsr is a former magician. He probably needs the grimoires to become a "perfect being" or such, that which was his original goal. Stiyl is her keeper, responsible for escorting and protecting her. However, this also means that if Stiyl has duties elsewhere, she would need to accompany him. He and Rin-chan was originally called her to defuse a complicated situation regarding a seal-designated alchemist, Rin-chan as a representative for the Magician's association and Stiyl as a representative for the English Anglican Church. Well, the exact circumstances are a bit more complicated… It seemed Nrvnqsr caught wind of this and decided that attacking when they were in Academy City was the best opportunity he would get. Luckily the two of them managed to hide with me, you see Kamiyan, I'm a spy for the English Anglican Church, let's just say that the two sides of "science" and "magic" don't really get along, which incidentally is also why it was so easy for Nrvnqsr to attack here. But then something happened… I told Stiyl in exchange for me having hidden him and Index, he should go fetch you, who had been unaffected by the "security system". Obviously he objected, if he exposed himself before Nrvnqsr it would be easy for the vampire's familiars to track us, in fact, I'm pretty sure that he knows where we are now. But I couldn't allow you to die, Kamiyan, it's complicated… In any case… he's definitely going to come for us next night."

Kamijou was surprised. He had never heard Tsuchimikado talk at such length before. Most people knew Tsuchimikado as the goofy guy that wore an Aloha shirt and had a perverse love for his adopted sister. But what shocked Kamijou the most was that saving his life had put four other in grave danger, there was no way he could feel good about the situation now. Not only that, the danger was not even over yet, Nrvnqsr would come for them. But still, Kamijou smiled.

"Heh, such misfortune… but you know Tsuchimikado, if that's what's going to happen, I'll definitely help you out. I thought this right hand of mine was useless until today, but you know… it killed those monsters in a single hit, no… a single touch. If it's to help you guys out in compensation for saving my life, I'll definitely lend you my Imagine Breaker." As soon as he finished talking, Tohsaka started laughing out loud, it was not refined nor did it fit the situation. It was laughter full of heart though, as if it was the funniest thing sshe had ever heard.

"Wh-what?" Kamijou blushed slightly, he knew that it had come off as kind of cheesy, but did not think someone could have found it that funny.

"Ah, haha, I'm so sorry Kamijou-kun… It's just, what you said really reminded me of someone, a stupid guy, just like you…" Her laughter died down as she spoke, a nostalgic expression making it to her face instead, which was then finally punctuated by a serene smile.

"Stu-stupid…?" Kamijou accidently stuttered forth what stuck out most in her sentence causing Tohsaka to giggle.

"That's right… he was such a wonderfully stubborn and stupid guy… Well, whatever!" Tohsaka once again had a nostalgic expression on her face. At this point, the sun was making its first appearance, officially spelling the end for the night. Stiyl opened both of his eyes and gave a report concerning Accelerator and Nrvnqsr.

"This Accelerator fellow was quite impressive. Nrvnqsr was interested enough in Accelerator to reveal his true body before him. In any case, both of them seemed to have survived, for better or worse." It was a satisfying enough of a situation for the team of magicians. Ideally, Accelerator would have slain the Chaos, but that probably would have never happened. Nrvnqsr, like most of the Dead Apostle Ancestors, was nigh-invulnerable thus the likelihood of a human killing one of them was extraordinarily low.

"Ah, as I thought, Accelerator's ability is truly fearsome. Anyways Kamiyan, why don't you go to sleep in your dorm room? Now that it's getting early I can't guarantee that Maika won't suddenly wake up, so take those three with you, 'kay?" Tsuchimikado demanded something outrageous from Kamijou with a smile on his face. Of course, Kamijou was not the only one who thought this idea was a complete joke, in fact, Stiyl was the one who reacted the worst.

"Wh-what! Motoharu you bastard! Why the hell would me and Index have to share a room with that guy? We can just go to a hotel or something, r-right Rin?" Tohsaka, contrary to Stiyl, was oddly calm and quickly dismissed Stiyl's statement.

"Well, it's better if we stick together, just because Nrvnqsr won't act during the day doesn't mean he's not going to keep a tab on us, if we're already detected anyways we should just stay together for now." It was not that convincing of an argument, but Tsuchimikado was quick to agree, not surprising, considering it was his idea in the first place.

"Yeah, yeah, Stiyl, just let it go, I'm sure Kamiyan's dorm room is wonderful! I have these mattresses in this closet that you can use to sleep on the floor." As Tsuchimikado spoke he turned his back to them and picked out three mattresses from the closet.

"Ah, that's surprising Tsuchimikado, I thought you only had Aloha shirts in your closet." Kamijou earnestly believed so.

"Hahahahahahaha… Go to bed Kamiyan." Tsuchimikado threw the folded mattresses at Kamijou.

- Ordinary life in Academy City -

Even though it was summer, Kamijou could not slack off. Due to the various incidents he'd been involved with throughout the school term, often caused by his extraordinarily bad luck, he had bad attendance. This culminated in him having to attend remedial lessons, something his teacher had been sure to remind him off by calling him in the middle of morning, interrupting his wonderful sleep.

"Hello Kamijou-chan I had the feeling you'd be thinking about skipping class today, but remedial lessons are important so please make sensei happy and attend!" His overly cherry teacher had the voice of a 12 year old, not even expecting a reply back before she cut the call.

Due to certain circumstances last night, Kamijou had not been able to get more than a few hours of sleep. Also due to certain circumstances last night, he was sleeping on the floor alongside two magicians, the third magician, the so-called "Index" having taken the sole bed in the room for herself. The reason for this was that Stiyl had not agreed to sleep in Kamijou's apartment unless Index got to sleep on the bed.

Naturally Kamijou was the only person awake, the other three had no reason to be up so early, it was just Kamijou's bad luck that he had to attend remedial classes on the first real day of summer vacation. Yes, it was summer and four people were sleeping in the same room, so it was really hot, almost too hot, when Kamijou woke up. Kamijou's first instinct was to turn on the TV and watch the weather report but decided against it after realizing it might wake the others up.

'_Ahh… I'll have you thank me later, sleepyheads, I'm too nice of a person.'_ The three of them were all snoring loudly, Stiyl especially so, probably due this his large stature or something, Kamijou theorized. Kamijou had the mattress farthest away from the balcony and closest to his small kitchen. He finally decided to heave himself out of bed and make some breakfast for his poor stomach that had survived on only Instant noodles for the last 12 hours… Naturally, as he found out later, 80% of the electrical appliances in Academy City had become unusable due to an incident with a lightning strike, leaving his freezer full of spoiled food and his air-conditioning non-functional, forcing him to boil some of his own instant noodles to sate his hunger.

'_Ahh, aren't the remedial lessons just power development lessons anyways? No way I'm getting anywhere in that area, I'm the weakest level 0 for a reason… Hmm, it feels pretty unnecessary to attend with that in mind… No, no, no, Kamijou Touma! Think positively! After all, after skipping four months of lessons in a single school term, only having to attend a week of remedial lessons is an enormous blessing!' _Kamijou was cooking his noodles while lost in thought and sleep deprived, recipe for disaster, as he accidently spilled them into the basin, rendering his options for breakfast to nothing.

'_Such misfortune…'_ Kamijou sighed heavily, at this point, it was best to just give it up and leave his room to head for school. He hoped that Tsuchimikado would have to share the pain of going to remedial lessons with him. After putting on his school uniform, the same he had worn the other day, he took a look back at the sleeping magicians, figuring they might try his spoiled food he picked up the pen and paper by the TV and started writing, leaving it on counter in the kitchen for them to find. It said:

FOOD IN FRIDGE IS BAD. IF YOU'RE HUNGRY, GO OVER TO TSUCHIMIKADO AND TAKE HIS LEFTOVERS, MAIKA HAS PROBABLY LEFT SOME FOR HIM.

'_I guess that's enough revenge from me, honestly Tsuchimikado, forcing these strangers into my room…'_ Kamijou opened the door and stepped out of his room, onto the veranda. It was naturally bright outside, as summer mornings tended to be. Kamijou had to block his view with his right arm to avoid getting blinded.

'_Ah, still, remedial lessons suck…'_ It did not help that it was power development class, something that Kamijou literally was the worst in Academy City at. Kamijou sighed and put his hands in his pockets, turning to the right, heading for the elevator. As he passed by Tsuchimikado's dorm room, the door opened and a fully clothed Tsuchimikado Motoharu stepped out of it.

"Oh! Yo, Kamiyan!" He exclaimed cheerfully. For Kamijou it was odd seeing Tsuchimikado being his usual self again, after being exposed to his secret last night, nevertheless, Tsuchimikado certainly did not seem to care, that, or he was a really good actor.

"Hmm… Yo, Tsuchimikado. You got remedial lessons too then?" Kamijou knew that in terms of power development, Tsuchimikado was far ahead of him, which of course, did not say much, as Kamijou was the worst there was in that area.

"Yeah, well, my results are good enough, but my attendance is crap. Haha, from yesterday you might realize why too! Unlike you, who just slack around a whole lot and get into fights, I actually do something." Kamijou wanted to say something like: 'hey, I don't slack around that much, nor do I get into fights, I mostly run away', but refrained.

"Just wondering, does Maika know about this whole Magic spy spiel?" Kamijou asked him a pretty personal question, just out of the blue. They headed for the elevator as Tsuchimikado started speaking.

"Nah, no way I'd involve her in these dangerous things… a lil' secret, Kamiyan, I'm doing this whole spy business so that I can keep her safe from 'em, you know, these magicians are the true rulers of the world, using information manipulation, deceit and mind control from behind the scenes to influence the global landscape from the shadows… Scary isn't it? That's what I thought at least, so I decided, 'hey, why not use that knowledge to protect the small people, like Maika, from all this confusing crap', that's why I'm a spy!" They were already by the road outside the dormitory when Tsuchimikado was done talking, the sun shining brightly across the City, reflecting its rays against the pristine, white, modern looking skyscrapers that made their home in District 7. The sky was cloudless, radiating its blue stare across Japan.

"Ah, I see…" It was an almost impolite response, considering Tsuchimikado's earnest reply, but the self-proclaimed spy was not exactly let down by it, instead hanging his left arm around Kamijou in an affectionate manner with his right hand stretched out in an exaggerated fashion, before continuing,

"Hah-hah! You got a whole new perspective of me now, Kamiyan? Noble and Virtuous, the great spy, Tsuchimikado Motoharu, who tips the scales behind the back of even the greatest of schemers, all for the good of mankind and out of love for his precious little sis-" Before he was able to finish his sentence, Kamijou punched him in the face with his right backhand.

"No way idiot, I can see know that you're still just the infamous Siscon Sergeant at the core of your heart." Kamijou mocked Tsuchimikado to dispel the serious mood as they continued walking down the hill that led up to their dormitory. They proceeded with small-talking about unimportant issues like school, what they wanted for lunch and manga while they walked through the urban area to reach their school. The gigantic three-bladed wind generators towered above them, spinning diligently while basking in the summer sun.

Their school was located pretty far away from their dorm, it was not exactly a top of the line school, which is why Kamijou managed to attend, but it still had a few ESPers over level 0 and 1. It was located atop a small hill. The school yard that was in front of the building was a boring sight to behold, lacking much of anything except gravel and dirt. Kamijou and Tsuchimikado walked onto the premises and then into the building, which was a boring looking grey E-shaped thing.

The corridors of the school were reminiscent of those of a standard public school, which by Academy City standards, a city which received its name from its outstanding education, was a pretty sorry state. Still, the school maintained a positive attitude, most of its students being lucky to receive any power development lessons in the first place, many of them being "Child-errors", a derogatory term for what were essentially orphans. The reason they were not called orphans was because it differed slightly from that term and was an Academy City only problem. In short, people from the outside took advantage of the fact that Academy City rarely allowed people to leave it and left their child within the premises of the city, forcing them to take care of it. Kamijou was not a Child-error though, just exceptionally bad at academics.

They opened the door that was on the second floor and lead into their classroom, a sign above telling them it belonged to Class 1:7. There were a select amount of students in the room, but what greeted them first was of course their ever positive and hardworking teacher. Her name was Tsukuyomi Komoe and she looked, sounded, but definitely was not a 12 year old girl.

"Ah, Welcome Kamijou-chan, Sensei is so happy you came! Tsuchimikado-kun, it's so great of you to come and help Kamijou-chan even though I told you that you could work at home to make up for your spotty attendance." She was 135 cm tall, had childishly pink hair and an equally petite pink dress covering her. Naturally, most people would think that this kind of thing was a joke, but no, she definitely was a teacher of this school. She was even mockingly called one of the seven mysterious of Academy City, the rumour being that she was a successful product of stopping cell-aging.

"Now, now, why don't you boys take a seat?" Naturally they obliged, Kamijou taking a seat near the back window, where he could look to his left in an aloof main-character-esque fashion out over the city while Tsuchimikado took a seat to his right. One student who had arrived before them cheerfully greeted them, not particularly mindful of the fact that he was in class. He had to bend his neck backwards to talk to them.

"Yo! Arriving at school at the same time eh? I arrived early to bask in the godlike light of Komoe-sensei's aura but as soon as you appeared she just stop paying attention to anyone else, Kamiyan! Oh how I wish I could be in your position!" Sitting in front of Tsuchimikado was a certain Aogami Pierce, a name very indicative of his appearance, with blue hair and piercings being his signature. He was definitely an odd person, spoke in fake Kansai-ben and was self-admittedly the biggest pervert in all of Academy City.

"Are you serious? She called me early in the morning just to tell me to go to school! Don't you think she's somewhat angry with me?" Kamijou definitely could not understand how Aogami thought, but then again, no one really could.

"Ahhhhh, you're so ignorant of the position you're in Kamiyan! Komoe-chan loves the kind of student who's completely hopeless! I think it awakens her maternal instincts. Her love goes wasted on you, I could show her an entirely new dimension of lo-" This was the kind of person that Kamijou put up with every day, luckily a quick jab to the face interrupted his disturbing sentence.

"You Lolicon! This is just a convenient way to express your love for little girls, isn't it!" Kamijou scolded Aogami for his far too apparent perversion.

"Hahahahaha, well, I'm definitely a Lolicon, but you're taking me lightly Kamiyan! I'm not 'just' a Lolicon! This Aogami Pierce doesn't discriminate along the large variety the female gender has to offer!" As he proudly declared this their teacher finally got enough of their argument and sent a warning in their direction.

"I'll allow talking in my class, but please keep it down or I'll be sending you down to the power development lab while the rest of us work with the theoretical ESP knowledge!" It was not an especially effective threat, at least not when it came from a 135 cm teacher whose head was only barely visible over the teacher's table. They shut up regardless, Aogami doing it very enthusiastically.

"Yes, I'll do my best Komoe-sensei!" He shouted out in regards to shutting up. Tsuchimikado snickered loudly, his hands behind his head, like a delinquent would. The three of them were known as "The Delta Force" or "The Three Idiots" in school, even beyond their own humble class, as they all had poor attendance, grades and thus often stuck together. Still, they were not really made fun of that much, this probably stemmed from Tsuchimikado's intimidating physique and reputation.

The lecture continued, their teacher talked spiritedly about ESP, AIM and Personal Realities and how they could use it to further their own powers, but Kamijou did not listen, instead opting to coolly stare out the window, one hand on his chin, and recall last night's events. It was so ridiculous to think about it, a vampire had invaded the city in search of a bunch of magicians. Still, it was hard to deny it, with all the evidence he needed deeply engraved in his mind as a bunch of images depicting strange black animals attacking him from every direction and Tohsaka performing three different kinds of magic in front of his face.

'_I wonder if the three of them will wake up soon? They weren't really the kind of personalities I expected from people calling themselves 'magicians', they were actually pretty normal aside from the spell casting. I guess people are still people even if they know magic… should be obvious enough…' _It was still worrying that they had to combat a vampire the next night, it was something he had almost forgot, with very little sleep and everything seemingly being all normal when he woke up and went to school like always it was something he could forgive himself for.

"Sensei, Kamijou's been starin' at the skirts of the gals from the tennis club!" It was the sound of Aogami's blatantly fake kansai-ben interrupting the silence of Kamijou's thoughts. After a short delay Kamijou looked up, because he did not hear anything abnormal.

Komoe was silent, her face seconds away from breaking into tears, deeply hurt by the fact that her passionate education was not reaching out to her favourite student, that certain "Kamijou-chan", it was either that, or the fact that he had looked at girls' skirts.

The rest of the class noticed her pitiful state and turned their angry stares to Kamijou, a reaction appropriate if they actually were protecting a child, but that 12 year old looking teacher was anything but a child, she was in fact probably twice the age of any student in that classroom.

'_Such misfortune…'_ It was a mantra Kamijou repeated all too often, but it was the only measure of protection he had against these kinds of events lest they drive him to insanity.

The rest of the day continued as normal, with Kamijou succeeding in doing absolutely no progress whatsoever in his power development, still just saddled with his right hand of exorcism. It was getting a tiny bit darker outside as his classes were done, the sun showering the streets still with its now red glare. Usually students would take the bus home, but it was getting pretty late and Kamijou had happened to miss the last one. Tsuchimikado had said that he was going somewhere else quickly and would return to their dormitory a bit later, Aogami had went to some other District, probably intent on doing something slightly morally dubious. Thus, Kamijou was walking home alone.

Kamijou looked up at the sky as he walked away from school, a large blimp floating up there among the skyscrapers. The large balloon carried a bunch of oversized monitors on its underside, displaying all sorts of news happenings along Academy City. "Large electricity outage after unidentified thunder strike last night, 80% of Academy City's electrical appliances disabled as a result." It said, as Kamijou watched it floating by. Nevertheless, Kamijou rarely dwelled that much on the news and moved on.

He passed by a park, a security robot heading past him as he did so. They were not really the kind of thing that people thought of when they heard "security robot" instead they looked more like a mobile trashcan, cylindrical in shape with wheels on their underside. They performed several jobs in the city; they cleaned up, repaired faulty machinery and occasionally attacked intruders. It was not an especially exciting sight in Academy City, but they tended to appear in larger number the later it was during the day.

On his way home Kamijou had to walk through the shopping district of District 7, it was a nice place, the pavement was decorated with orange tiles and shops lined the streets, being a no-vehicle section. He could hear someone yelling at a distance but kept on walking, thinking about vampires, until it became apparent that the cries of attention were directed at him.

"Hey stop already!" As Kamijou turned around he could see the owner of that specific voice, it was a certain middle-school girl, the exact same that he had encountered at the restaurant the day before, which had led to a bunch of terrible events. She had shoulder-length light brown hair and wore her school outfit which unlike Kamijou's, was terribly decorative, implying that she was from a very privileged school.

"Um? Ah it's just you… that Biribiri middle school girl… What's your name aga-" He really could not remember but obviously she did not give him any time to think about it, having finally caught up to him after going ignored for so long she instead angrily interrupted him.

"Don't call me Biribiri! I am named Misaka Mikoto and I'd like you to remember it, I at least remember your name so show some courtesy!" Kamijou turned around to face her and she continued talking, seemingly satisfied that she had grabbed his attention enough to cause him to stop.

"What's up with that Biribiri anyways, didn't you call me that the first time we met?" Kamijou was not too good with names, so he had just said the first thing that he had thought of when he had seen her. Kamijou was tired, he had not slept well and his lessons had been exhausting him as well, he could barely make sense of what she was saying. He looked away from her for a little bit, staring into the distance and then sighing.

"H-hey, what's up with that bored attitude? Are you making fun of me?" Kamijou did not really care and started walking again, with Misaka eliciting an "ah" and continuing to tail him.

"Wh-Why are you ignoring me?" Her cries of desperation grew louder. Kamijou did not really care about what she wanted from him, but now turned around again and looked at her, catching a detail about her appearance that caused him to speak up.

"Hey, why are you wearing your school uniform on the 20th of July? It's summer you know? Or do you have remedial lessons like little poor me?" The strange question took Misaka off guard, but she nevertheless rebutted.

"Wha-wha-wha, that doesn't matter!" Kamijou continued speaking about unnecessary things regardless, her protests not really affecting him too much.

"Besides, this exemplary student from Tokiwadai Middle School having such a boyish personality would surely cause some heads to rise." Her red face was a mix of embarrassment and anger, apparently very rarely as easily disregarded as she was being right now, Kamijou's calm statements hitting a very special nerve in her.

"Y-YOU… I'LL SHOW YOU… MAKING FUN OF ME LIKE THIS!" At this point several bystanders had started looking at the pair funnily. But Misaka did not seem to notice, stomping down on the ground violently, but instead of being a harmless act of anger, it emitted a dangerous amount of electricity, crackling along the ground inconspicuously, overloading the circuits of several of the nearby bystanders' cell phones and even a single security robot that was idly passing by.

"YOU FEELING AWAKE NOW, KAMI-" Before she was able to finish her sentence, Kamijou quickly covered her mouth and starting whispering to her.

"Are you kidding me? Stop doing that, imagine all the money you'd have to pay if people realized you ruined their cell phones, please just shut up so I don't get deemed guilty by association, I get it... you wanna talk… just talk." Kamijou kind of wanted to harass her a bit more, but when she started using her powers irresponsibly it was time to go into serious-mode. After a few seconds he removed his hand from her mouth, she naturally opened it to speak immediately as soon as he did so.

"Wah... well, I couldn't find you after you ran off yesterday so I paid the note th-" Her previously antagonistic tone was now gone, replaced by a shy stutter like speak pattern. She did not talk especially loud so Kamijou could just barely make out what she was trying to get across, but before she was able to finish so he could thank her, a loud noise suddenly filled the air. It was the security robot that had been struck by Misaka's electromagnetic outburst.

"ALERT! ALERT! ERROR NUMBER 100231-YF. OFFENSIVE ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE DETECTED. ANALYSIS IMPOSSIBLE. SYSTEM ABNORMALITY CONFIRMED. DEAR CITIZENS OF ACADEMY CITY, PLEASE TURN OFF ANY ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT. DANGER OF ELECTRONIC TERRORIST ATTACK IS A POSSIBILITY." The pre-recorded voice blared obnoxiously throughout the street, alerting the many pedestrians along the shopping district about a non-existent threat. Kamijou and Misaka turned around to look at the cylindrical automaton in fear. It was smoking, some of its circuits obviously damaged.

It was only when it had completed its vocal warning that it let out a loud and shrill siren which instantly prompted Kamijou and Misaka to flee the scene in a rather suspicious fashion, rushing away at full speed.

'_Ugh, darn it! Why is it that this always happens to me? Wait... I didn't do anything, why the hell am I running as well!' _The two of them were heading down an alley. Kamijou accidentally scared a black cat on his way by kicking a plastic water bottle out of the way. His thoughts were occupied though. He vaguely remembered that one of those security robots cost something like 1.2 million yen.

"AAAARRRRGH! SUCH MISFORTUNE! THIS SORT OF PERSON IS ONLY TROUBLE!" Kamijou cursed his luck as they continued their flight. He was remembered the first time he had encountered Misaka, which the rest of their encounters pretty much mirrored completely anyways, aside from this one, at least it did not yet. They finally had gotten far away from the centre of the incident to engage in a proper conversation again, stopping in the middle of the alley.

"HUH? DON'T CALL ME "THIS SORT OF PERSON"! MY NAME IS MISAKA MIKOTO!" Yes, this reminded Kamijou a lot about the time they first met. Do not get Kamijou wrong though, he had not saved her from the drunks at the restaurant the other day, rather, he had saved them, **from her.**

Misaka Mikoto was not just a spoiled middle school kid with a rough attitude. She was the Number 3 Level 5 ESPer in Academy City nicknamed "The Electromaster" and "The Ace of Tokiwadai" for her incredible electrical abilities. They had first met in a situation where he actually _had_ been trying to protect her, as a bunch of delinquents had been harassing her for whatever business those simpletons care about.

"AHH, YOU'RE SO LOUD, BIRIBIRI! BESIDES, I SAW THAT AN "UNFORTUNATE" LIGHTNING STRIKE HAD DAMAGED 80% OF ACADEMY CITIES ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES! IT WAS YOU, WASN'T IT? IT REALLY MUST'VE BEEN YOU!" In the past, Kamijou had thought the situation simply looked like a bunch of Skill-outs harassing a lower level ESPer by outnumbering it. But when he had inquired about what they were doing, they had not been the ones to become enraged.

"HUH, YOU'RE SO ANNOYING! DON'T INTEREFERE WITH MY BUSINESS!" Yes, that was what she had said both then and now. Before Kamijou had known it, the delinquents had already been knocked out by a large burst of electricity that had been emitted from her hair, causing it to flutter slightly.

"DAMN IT, WHAT ARE YOU SO ANGRY ABOUT? I HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING!" That was what he had said with an irritated tone during their initial encounter and now as well. The response of this Biribiri had been the same both times as well. She had raised her finger and from it had come forth a huge flood of electricity, travelling at a terrifying velocity with the power to knock out any man. Both times, before she had finished firing, the right hand of exorcism had already started moving to act as a lightning rod for the blast by stretching itself out in her direction. Naturally, it had done no damage. This was the source of her insistence, how come that the only opponent the Number 3 Level 5 ESPer in Academy City was not able to beat was a measly Level 0?

The rest of their encounters had been characterized by the exact same pattern, Misaka getting annoyed for little reason and then trying out her powers on him in creative fashion. But no matter what she did, using magnetism to form a "whip sword" with iron sand, a powerful electromagnetic pulse that was to interfere with the opponents biological signals, a lightning strike from above, a bolt from the front. All of them failed in front of the Imagine Breaker. Kamijou had never received a single injury and never tired before Misaka.

"ARRRRGHHHHHHH! WHAT IS YOUR POWER?" Now, Misaka continued exerting her full power on Kamijou in a desperate manner, seemingly out of ideas after all of their numerous previous encounters. Sparks of electricity flew through the alley as sweat started pouring from Misaka's face, drenching her short brown hair with it. It took a few minutes of Misaka fully unleashing her truly massive amounts of power until she finally decided to speak up again.

"WHY CAN'T I BEAT YOOOUUUUU!" Misaka's voice was a blend of anger, annoyance, desperation and maybe even some fear. She did not continue attacking, merely gasping for air, a natural reaction after wildly flinging her lightning bolts for so long. The back alley they were quarrelling in was charred at every angle, absurd amounts of electricity having been deflected all throughout it

"Heh, it's not my fault your stamina is so bad, come back after you've finished growing!" Kamijou was 100% confident in a 1v1 fight, against any ESPer or normal human in Academy City, well as long as they were not packing a firearm, which was rare anyways. He had a tendency to get into fights over ridiculously small stuff, usually not his fault, merely a product of coincidence interfering with his bad luck. That was why he had been forced to get used to all manners of fights, but still, he was not some kind of legendary martial artist and even with his Imagine Breaker, he did not have much of a chance if he was outnumbered. Misaka merely grit her teeth in annoyance, no matter how hard she tried he barely even took her seriously, just deflecting her attacks and then leaving, refusing to take the offensive.

"AGHHHHHHHHH, THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOUR IS WHAT I HATE! WHY IS IT THAT I CAN'T EVEN SHUT YOU UUUUUUUUP!" Another bolt of lightning left Misaka Mikoto's body as she screamed, being just as easily nullified by Kamijou's right hand as the others.

"Well, I'm leaving now... I don't really care about winning or losing, so if that upsets you, just consider it your win." Kamijou turned around and waved his hand in a gesture of farewell. Misaka on the other hand though, did not really feel like they had settled this quite yet.

"STAY RIGHT HERE! YOU ARROGANT... HURRY UP AND FIGHT ME WITH ALL YOU'VE GOT ALREADY!" Her true will was contained in that sentence. While it was humiliating that she could not beat him with all her power, what was even worse was that he would not even show all of his. Her face was red in embarrassment and her face was full of sweat as she glared at his back in a menacing fashion. Kamijou turned around to face her again.

"Are you sure I can go all out?" This short phrase did not contain any of his usual lazy or disinterested tone instead having a sharp hint to it, as if issuing a warning. Of course, for Misaka, who did not even know the true nature of his power, this truly frightened her. She took a step back almost instinctively after he was done talking. Indeed, this man had been the only person who she had been able to go all out on. Why? Her powers were so enormously overwhelming and lethal that any other person would simply die instantly if she unleashed it all upon them. Despite this, she had not been able to lay a single scratch on him. What could he be hiding? What was the true nature of his power? Was he holding back because of the same reason she was when dealing with ordinary people? Was he simply that far beyond her?

Naturally all of these thoughts were unfounded, paranoia induced frights, but this is how terrifying the power known as Imagine Breaker was to those it affected. The most striking feature of the hand was how it moved automatically to deflect any threat that it could negate, otherwise, how could Kamijou have deflected lightning, which moved faster than any human could react to, for observers, it almost felt like he could predict the future using it.

Finally, she lowered her face in shame and turned around, intending to leave him be. However this time it was Kamijou's turn to stop her from leaving.

"Hey, Biribiri, there's something weird going on at night so don't go out alright? Also, I don't know what happened last night that caused you to use that large lightning strike that took out all the electricity, but be responsible with your powers... Ok?" It was a humble suggestion from Kamijou, but to Misaka it merely sounded like the victor's gloat, she turned around with a blush on her face, slightly angered by his tonal shift.

"First off... My name is Misaka Mikoto! Anyways, whatever, some weird animal based ESPer attacked me yesterday with his strange beasts so I blasted them with my powers... Well, whatever, I'm leaving now, but don't think you're off the hook, alright?" Her words indicated arrogance but she felt far too humiliated to put on the tone in to match it, instead it just sounded like the sore words of a loser.

"Hahaha, well okay then... Misaka! Remember though; be careful not to go out tonight!" Those were his parting words as he rushed back to his dormitory.

- Fateful night -

"Hey, Kamijou-kun, where's Tsuchimikado-kun? I honestly thought it was unnecessary for him to go to school of all places when we've got more important stuff to do, so why isn't he even back yet?" Tohsaka Rin was standing in front of Kamijou's dormitory building with a sullen expression on her face, arms crossed.

"Uhh… I didn't ask him… He said he had to take care of some important business, maybe he went to ask for help from some ESPer he knows?" Kamijou felt sort of bad for not keeping track of Tsuchimikado, not that it had been his job in the first place, but hearing Tohsaka scold him about it made him feel responsible. He weakly put up his arms in the air as if trying to shield himself from the angry magician's words.

"Don't be absurd! Magicians don't involve normal people in magical matters! You're special and that's only because Tsuchimikado-kun allowed it! I don't understand that man… he's so hard to read…" Tohsaka started devolving her speech into random mutterings. She looked very troubled by Tsuchimikado's absence, resting her hand on her chin, lost in thought. Just as she looked up at Kamijou again, her expression turned to slight surprise. Kamijou looked behind himself, where the slightly late Tsuchimikado now stood.

"Heh, did you really need to take out your frustration on Kamiyan, Rin-chan? Besides, I did something really important, which will probably ensure our victory!" Tsuchimikado's expression did not show much, but his voice was full of confidence. He stood with the red glow of summer's twilight on his back, giving him an eerie presence.

"Huh? Wait… There's only one magician in… Don't tell me-" Tohsaka was visibly taken aback by Tsuchimikado's statement, her face now being adorned with a shocked expression.

"Tohsaka Rin, quiet down, we'll talk inside the boundary." Tsuchimikado's voice became oddly threatening as he spoke urgently in order to shut Tohsaka up. She stopped speaking and a mysterious grimace of hostility made it self onto her visage. She then turned around and started walking back into the dorms.

"You're right. Come on, Kamijou-kun." Kamijou had not known what to make of that conversation and stood still until Tohsaka called for him. He picked up pace with Tsuchimikado walking closely behind him.

This time, they were in Kamijou's dorm room, which was pretty much identical to Tsuchimikado's, except being a lot less tidy. Stiyl had been smoking on the balcony when they entered the room and Index had been sitting by the table in the middle of the room, eating some snacks and oddly enough for a magician, watching the television.

"Alright, put up the boundary again Rin-chan." Tsuchimikado was speaking cheerfully once again. He picked up the remote control to the television and turned it off which elicited a brief protest from Index who had not even realized that they had entered the room. Tohsaka did not say anything but muttered a brief spell under her breath.

"Ok, so I talked to the General Director and asked him to negotiate for us to be able to activate the Index." Kamijou had no idea what that meant but all the magicians showed a strong reaction to this sentence, turning their full attention to Tsuchimikado. Stiyl even stormed into the room from the Balcony, his cigarette abandoned, and spoke his protests first.

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS! I KNOW OUR CHANCES ARE GRIM BUT INITIATING INDEX'S JOHN PEN MODE IS ONLY FOR THE ARCHBISHOP TO DECIDE, BESIDES, THAT MODE IS DANGEROUS NOT ONLY FOR US BUT FOR INDEX AS WELL! TO ACTIVATE IT WHEN WE'VE ONLY GOT 1 DAY LEFT IS ALSO JUST STUPID!" It was a very vocal protest, almost shaking the walls with its intensity. After he was done, it left the room in an uncomfortable silence, until Kamijou of all people spoke up.

"Eh? What's this about? John Pen?" Kamijou's ignorance lightened the mood slightly. Tohsaka seemed especially relieved, crossing her arms in preparation to explain. Index was meanwhile shifting her gaze between Stiyl and Tsuchimikado, who were both staring each other down, Stiyl with far more malice.

"You remember right? Index is called as such because she is seen as an object by the Church, she was a joint project between the churches in Europe in order to gather all grimoires in the world into one person in hopes to reverse engineer them and destroy the originals. A grimoire is a highly sophisticated magical array that contains a multitude of knowledge regarding powerful spells. That girl over there has stored 100300 of these in her mind, a feat which is impossible without extremely high magical mental protection. She is thus one of the most powerful magicians on earth. This was naturally a problem for the churches, so they put a seal on her that disallows her from using magic unless they tell her to." It was hard for Kamijou to understand even with Tohsaka's simplified explanation. Tsuchimikado picked up after she stopped.

"Right, so the church which holds the control over Index happens to be the one we're from; The English Anglican Church. That church also has the best relationship with Academy City, so I asked the General Director to contact the Archbishop in order to unseal Index's magical energy and allow her to join the battle." Tsuchimikado had stopped his staring contest with Stiyl and looked at Tohsaka as he spoke, even though the words were seemingly directed at Kamijou.

"Hmm, I feel like it's a better plan than what we had before… Delaying and starving Nrvnqsr wasn't a very stable strategy… But with Index's John Pen mode we've got a chance of even permanently vanquishing him." Tohsaka was still thinking, her hand covering her mouth as she muttered some of her thoughts out loud. At this proclamation Stiyl clicked his tongue in spite and disgust.

"Naturally the Magician's Association's little pet would think that! I personally would never consider using Index as a weapon, but at this point it's not even for me to decide. If the Archbishop agrees it will definitely happen and then there is nothing I can do. How annoying. She'll probably even jump at the opportunity to take out one of the Dead Apostle Ancestors…" Stiyl spoke with venom in his mouth, this turn of events was definitely something he was vehemently against, but he still admitted defeat easily against the authority of the Archbishop.

"Huh, but how will the Archbishop unseal Index? This person is in England right?" Kamijou once again could not resist asking, his curiosity getting the better of him. Tsuchimikado quickly answered.

"I don't really know how, but she can definitely do it across continents. As soon as I send a signal to the General Director he will inform her to do it. Depending on whether or not the negotiations went well, Index will then enter John Pen mode, allowing her to use her magical energy." His answer was once again not only directed at Kamijou, Tsuchimikado instead stared at Tohsaka as he was talking.

"That'll have to do then… Me and Stiyl have readied this area for battle, we've placed out all of his runes and produced a large magical array that is loaded with an anti-dead apostle bounded field. Oh yeah, Kamijou-kun, as for you, just protect us magicians while we're chanting, we have defences of our own, but that's probably the only way you can help out." Tohsaka casually issued her orders to Kamijou, they showed a lack of confidence in his abilities, but he could not really blame her, to her he was just a slightly abnormal ESPer, in fact, he was pretty unsure in himself as well. Right before he could respond a slightly panicked Stiyl spoke up.

"He… He has started moving. He'll be here just as the sun goes down!" Stiyl had been monitoring the bounded field that covered Academy City but opened his eyes to report this. Everyone in the room started moving about, they needed to get in position. Index sat down with a calm expression as they moved about. At least until Stiyl grabbed her hand and dragged her out.

They all moved out onto the small area in front of the dormitory, Kamijou noticed that there were small pieces of machine paper plastered all over the building, a strange red star pattern marked upon them. They were everywhere, covering all the walkways, the walls, the ceilings and the area outside. Similarly, when they got out of the elevator, Kamijou could see a large intricate circle drawn with what he presumed was chalk all over the lobby floor.

'_How did they get away with all this? Did they put everyone in the building to sleep…?'_ When they reached the yard it suddenly turned incredibly dark, in theory the night was not supposed to be this dark, but the lights that were supposed to brighten the streets were all extinguished, the moon seemed especially eager to glow though, its crescent form felt like it was closer to earth than usual.

"Heh… So this is the oppressive atmosphere of one of the Dead Apostle Ancestors huh…" Tsuchimikado broke the silence, but none of his companions answered him, instead a booming voice coming from the darkness of the road did.

"Very true, agent of the church. Do you stand before me to offer me the Index without a fight or have you simply realized that running is useless, either way, your lives are all forfeit." As this voice continued to echo, its owner revealed itself, walking onto dormitory grounds. As soon as he came within visual range the darkness shrouding him was vanquished, as golden, sunlight-like orbs hit him all over his body. It was the bounded field, attacking him as he entered the designated area.

"I see, so you intend to fight. But… It hardly matters what course of action you have taken." The bounded field's attack persisted, yet Nrvnqsr still spoke with a chilling calm. The orbs were burning into his body, causing ash to form and flow through the air, but he did not seem to care. Stiyl clicked his tongue and started his chant while Tsuchimikado reached into his pocket to send of the signal. Kamijou was honestly terrified. Looking at Nrvnqsr was like staring down a large abyss while standing on the edge with a single leg while spiders crept up your body.

"ONE OF THE FIVE ELEMENTS THAT BUILD THE EARTH, O GREAT CREATOR OF FLAMES!" Stiyl was chanting without any shortcuts, intending to let loose his full power, it was up to the other to protect him as he did so, and then for Stiyl to hold off the Chaos until John Pen mode activated. As the chant started it heralded the true start of the battle, several animals jumping out under from Nrvnqsr's large robes. As soon as they made themselves know, several more of the orbs that radiated sunrays appeared to attach themselves to the beasts, it was enough to fully destroy or cripple some of the lesser creatures.

"THE LIGHT OF SALVATION THAT GIVES BIRTH TO LIFE!" Stiyl was a really fast chanter. It was hard for Kamijou to make out what he was saying. Kamijou could hear a quick mutter and then a clap to his right. It appeared that Tsuchimikado had cast a spell. Kamijou did not have a chance to look over though as several beasts approached their location, they were ferocious and terribly fast, but once again, Kamijou fell into an auto-pilot of sorts, his hand stretching out to intercept the animals trying to attack Stiyl. It was a large moose that had charged with its horns outstretched, but as soon as it hit the Imagine Breaker it dissipated into a black puddle.

"THE LIGHT OF JUDGMENT THAT PUNISHES EVILDOERS!" A black bird tried to hit Kamijou from above but he swatted it away like a fly. Several more animals came his way. It was easier for Kamijou to deal with them with the bounded field having injured most of them, Tohsaka concentrating her efforts to expand it during the fight. Kamijou was feeling relieved, this was far easier with the support of the magicians.

"WHILE BRINGING PEACE AND STABILITY, AT THE SAME TIME, IT ALSO DESTROYS THE COLD AND DARK MISFORTUNE!" More and more animals fell to the combined efforts of the Imagine Breaker and the anti-dead apostle bounded field, wolves, large cats, birds, bears and even land borne fish. However, the beasts were never truly destroyed, after a few seconds of being killed, the "corpse" of the animal would always crawl itself over to the main body of Nrvnqsr and reform, before hurling itself out onto the battlefield again, this, in addition to Nrvnqsr unleashing more and more animals meant that their numbers kept increasing without any losses. But it was soon time.

"FIRE IS THE NAME! SWORD IS THE TITLE! SHOW YOURSELF, SWALLOW THYSELF AND TURN IT INTO POWER!" Stiyl was done, it was a high-level spell, as he finished the runes that had been plastered all over the building started glowing with a red glare before an enormous explosion enveloped the dormitory grounds, destroying half the currently active beasts. Kamijou had to shield himself with his right hand in order to not get affected by the large amounts of heat. In the wake of the blast stood a large giant made of fire, its core was like an orb of flowing oil, it easily surpassed 3 meters in height. It held a large cross in its hands, seemingly made out of pure fire that shone with a brightness that far surpassed any other of the flames.

This allowed Kamijou enough leeway to look over to Tsuchimikado. The sight shocked him, Tsuchimikado was covered in blood and since the beasts did not bleed an ordinary brand of blood Kamijou deduced that it was definitely Tsuchimikado's.

"Hey! Tsuchimikado, are you okay?" The colossus of flames raged and together with the orbs produced by the bounded field commanded by Tohsaka the renegade squad of magicians were able to temporarily hold off the onslaught of beasts. Tsuchimikado watched the carnage for a bit but then calmly shifted his gaze onto Kamijou and smiled.

"Yeah no worries, it's just that using magic causes an ESPer to get injured. I used reinforcement and some Onmyodo to hold off the beasts on my side. But you remember my ESPer ability right? It's rather convenient for an ESPer/Magician hybrid like myself… my level 4 Auto-Rebirth heals any wounds caused by using magic!" Of course Kamijou remembered, despite being a self-admitted bad student, Tsuchimikado had been able to evolve his abilities to Level 4 rather quickly, he was one of the few high levels on their school which allowed him quite a lot of leeway in his education. Tsuchimikado had even repeatedly been offered to switch school, but always mysteriously turned it down.

"Huh, so I can't learn magic then… But wait, did you send the signal to activate Index?" Kamijou had to shout slightly, his voice would otherwise be overpowered by the cries of dying beasts. Despite the massive power of the giant, it seemed to be getting injured by the beasts as they threw themselves at the colossus in a suicidal fashion. The power of Nrvnqsr seemed truly endless, more and more beasts entered the field, one of them large enough to seemingly "wrestle" with the infernal titan. But it did not waver, the runes supplying a large amount of Prana to it, repairing any damage it sustained.

"Yeah! I did, but it seems like the process takes a little bit! I'm going to try and assist the other using magic now, Kamiyan, just stay back for now!" Kamijou seriously had no clue how he would have approached the battle with that large giant of fire on the field without disrupting it, so he did not protest. He looked on as Tsuchimikado took out a camera film roll container from his pocket. In it was four pieces of Origami, with different colours, neatly folded into representations of the four guardians beasts.

Tsuchimikado opened the camera film roll container and deposited the paper crafts, throwing them out on the ground, arranged in order to represent North, West, South and East, with East pointing in the direction of Nrvnqsr. Tsuchimikado then stood in the middle of them and clapped his hands. Suddenly the four small paper beasts started glowing blue. Tsuchimikado then did more strange poses in the ring, they reminded Kamijou of the ones that Onmyoji would perform to during their performances, but the ones that Tsuchimikado did seemed to be more real, every time he moved it was like he shook the world. Finally, after around 10 seconds, he stopped. By now, a large amount of blue light enveloped the small magical array that Tsuchimikado had created. The light congregated into a ball and then launched itself with a flash at the large creature that was wrestling Stiyl's flame giant. It was a direct hit, but it did not explode immediately, instead embedding itself into the obsidian flesh of the large monster, sinking into its interiors and then detonating.

Flesh, guts and blood, all equally black, rained upon the battlefield. Finally, the fire titan could proceed, it mowed down 20 beasts in a single hit and then attempted to directly attack the body of Nrvnqsr Chaos, readying its large cross shaped flame sword like an executioners axe, bringing it down to crush the vampire with infernal levels of heat.

It did not connect, instead a large hand stretched out of Nrvnqsr's stomach, its fingers were talon-like and the skin of the arm was a reptilians, black scales covering it. It firmly held the large cross in its grip, only slightly bothered by it. The rest of the arm's body started pushing itself out of the blackness of Nrvnqsr's robes. As soon as the head appeared, Kamijou fell onto his feet, he could not believe it, it was definitely the most legendary creature of mythology, the dragon. Soon it had fully emerged. It was bigger than the fire giant, but only by length, its height leaving a little to be desired. It crawled on four legs but soon stood up on its hind legs and spread its wings in a mighty gesture which produced enough wind to knock Kamijou back. However, As soon as it appeared, the orbs of daylight surrounded it, swarming to it like moths to a lamp, causing insubstantial damage.

The dragon then proceeded to engage in melee with the incarnation of flames, however, unlike the creatures that had come before it, it did not melt upon contact, instead, the tough black scales weathered the inferno with amazing gusto, just like it did with the attacks of the bounded field. The dragon grabbed the fire titan with its two front legs in order to restrict its movements and then attempted to bite it at the throat. Naturally, a being that was essentially just a continuous chemical reaction was not really fazed by such an attack and attempted to lash back using its cross, hitting it unto the throat of the dragon in retaliation.

The flaming crucifix did not do a lot of damage, but it caused the dragon to cry out in pain and loosen its grip. Kamijou looked over at Stiyl, who was controlling the fire titan, he looked tired and it was easy to tell that even with the support of the runes, it was not long before the flames would be extinguished.

"Tch, this area is running out of Mana and Rin and Stiyl don't have a lot of Od left…" Tsuchimikado muttered this and then looked over to Index in desperation. However, as if his gaze had been the catalyst, Index who had previously just cowered behind the magicians, now stood up with a stoic look on her face. She then started hovering around a feet above the ground, slowly floating forwards onto the battlefield.

"John's Pen mode activated. Protocol: Heretic Purge. Target: Dead Apostle Ancestor number 10, Nrvnqsr Chaos. Enemy confirmed via visual and magical signature. Commencing purge." Index spoke in a robotic manner and it gave Kamijou the creeps, he could not say that he had ever heard such an inhuman way of speaking. Stiyl and Tohsaka turned around as they heard the voice of Index. Stiyl looked slightly pained, having clearly wanted to be able to destroy Nrnvqsr on his own. However, he still dispelled his walking inferno as soon as he knew Index was up and running, causing the dragon to be left without an enemy. It looked upon the battlefield and saw Nrvnqsr's original target, the Index, and attacked.

"Deploying 'Sanctuary of St. George' in order to destroy target." All the air around Index was blown away with a mighty thunder clap and two magical arrays floated in front of her, they were wonderfully intricate pieces of art, but served merely as a catalyst for another spell.

"[ - - - - ]" Index chanted an incredibly fast verse, the dragon approaching at high speeds, but as right as its claw were about to hit her, the magical arrays in front of her emitted a large ray of light which caused a strange black explosion along the arm of the dragon, pushing it back. Now the arrays had transformed into a black shell in the shape of a turtle's around her, acting as a defence against anyone who would try to touch her.

"Magical contact has confirmed that secondary target is draconian, readying 'Ascalon Replica' in accordance with 'Sanctuary of St. George'" The dragon whose claw had been shredded and rendered useless was standing back, cautiously watching the new threat for a few seconds before opening its throat wide, inhaling air for a brief second and then unleashing a beam of pure concentrated fire.

"[ - - - - ]" Once again, Index mumbled forth a chant at inhuman speeds, right before the beam hit the sanctuary a spear of black light grew out of it, launching itself right at the approaching fire breath. When the spear came in contact with the beam it flew right through, vanquishing the beam along its path, then piercing the dragon right through its mouth, destroying it completely as it proceeded through the large body, leaving a small trail of ashes behind. As it left the tail end of the dragon it had completely annihilated it, but continued anyways at a blinding speed, hitting Nrvnqsr himself. The spear caused him to explode into a thousand chunks of disgusting black amorphous flesh, which landed all over the battlefield.

"Are… you kidding me? She defeated him in a single blow?" Kamijou muttered that in utter astonishment. Tsuchimikado, Tohsaka and Stiyl similarly watched in amazement. The enemy they had fought desperately using all their Prana, had been utterly crushed in a single blow.

Or so it had seemed.

"Impressive, well this just shows that seeking out the Index was the correct course of action. You might think you have me at a disadvantage, but that is not true." The deep and booming voice of Nrnvqsr once again echoed across the night, as if he was the darkness itself. Index however, swiftly identified the voice and spun around in the air, as if locking onto a new target. Kamijou looked at where she was facing and saw a black crow standing on top of the dormitory building.

"Readying 'God's light' to destroy last remnant of Dead Apostle." The shell around Index started to change colour, turning into a pale blue instead of the previous deep black. However, before she was able to complete her spell, the remains of all the dead beasts suddenly moved at an incredible speed, surrounding Index, forming together into a large ball and then enveloping her. The large blob clashed with her barrier as it tried to consume her, producing black sparks, neither the barrier nor the new ball of flesh faltered; however, while it hadn't destroyed her, the ball had contained her. Out of the darkness came a reformed Nrnvqsr Chaos.

"To destroy me you have to defeat every single one of the 666 beasts contained within me, if just a single consciousness remains the Chaos will reform. But it is nonetheless impressive that you've managed to force me to use my hidden card, well, I intended to use it later anyways, to deal with the Walking Church spiritual item. This is the Soil of Genesis, formed from 500 of my beasts, do not try and reverse engineer it using one of your grimoires, it is a spell from the Age of Gods adapted to work with my reality marble after all…" As he spoke, several thundering explosions could be heard from under the Soil, probably Index's attempts at destroying it. Kamijou, Tsuchimikado, Tohsaka and Stiyl were all in the harsh confines of absolute despair. They could not move, they could not think, they could not feel… Everything was useless against this foe.

"I would advise you stop struggling, it will only make the pain worse as the Soil consumes you. To break out you'd need the firepower to destroy a continent." It was an incredibly bold statement. Was it even possible to destroy it then? Who possessed the firepower to destroy a continent? It was a hopeless situation. However, Tsuchimikado actually seemed to have recomposed himself, speaking back to Nrvnqsr in a confident manner.

"That's your victory gloat? I was hoping for something more! We don't have anything ridiculous like the fire power to destroy a continent… However! We have something better, a one of a kind ability that surpasses every supernatural phenomena in Gaia's domain! The Imagine Breaker!" Kamijou was shocked, never had he known that Tsuchimikado of all people held his power in such high esteem. He stood still, not being able to move even after Tsuchimikado's little speech.

'_Wait… what am I being so apprehensive about? This hand might not have the firepower to destroy a continent, but wasn't __**I **__the one that claimed that this was the power that could reduce even the miracles of God to nothing? It has deflected over 1 million volts of electricity without a scratch, hadn't that just been the warm up? Surely I can deal with just some black goo!'_ That was when he did it. He just ran forwards with all his might, there was naught but 2 meters between him and the ball that had consumed index. Hand stretched forwards he threw himself at the ball, jumping of the ground, as he approached the ball, the walls of it bended into beasts, as if to protect it. The fangs of a wolf tried to bite his hand, the stinger of a scorpion tried to pierce it, the horns of a bull tried to impale it, the claws of a tiger tried to slash it. They all failed and he reached the ball and with a simple touch it started convulsing and then unravelled itself, exploding into a mess of black goo.

"HAHAHAHA! This is my Imagine Breaker, you damn vampire!" In the middle of his gloating, Kamijou continued his forwards momentum, with his hand stretched forwards it destroyed Index's barrier which had been revealed from under the Soil. The sound of the barrier breaking was like that of a stone being thrown through a glass window, but Kamijou felt no resistance and he kept going, eventually reaching index herself, colliding with her, it had been too fast, and he had not been able to retract his right hand, he thus grazed her robes, which surprisingly caused them to rip apart.

"Huh…?" Kamijou and Index were in heap on the ground, the tatters of Index's gold embroidered nun robes surrounding her body in a haphazard way, revealing parts of her naked body. Nrvnqsr Chaos himself seemed shocked at what had just happened. His hidden card had been so effortlessly invalidated, by a low-class ESPer of all people. It was hard to tell, but he was trembling slightly, the Chaos itself was terrified by that power.

"He… He… HAHAHAHAHA! WHY CAN I NOT STOP SHAKING? IS THAT POWER TRULY SUCH A FEARSOME THING? HAHAHAHAHA! But… I… I CAN NOT ALLOW MY SELF TO SHOW WEAKNESS IN FRONT OF THESE MERE HUMANS!" As he spoke several beasts started crawling out of his robes, baring their teeth. Kamijou laid on the ground, embracing the dazed Index in a protective gesture. The beasts looked at him and he looked back. He could see it, what they held in their black soulless eyes were fear, yes, they feared the Imagine Breaker, they feared that it was the weapon of their demise.

"KAMIYAN! GET AWAY FROM THERE" Tsuchimikado charged forward while Stiyl and Rin looked on with shocked expressions, what they had seen during this battle was too confusing for them. Tsuchimikado clapped and murmured something under his breath causing his speed to pick up significantly. He ran in order to intercept the creatures that would soon pounce upon the helpless Index and Kamijou. His reinforced legs carried him at a rate far surpassing that of a human and he was able to place himself between the attacking animals and Kamijou and Index right as they attacked, turning his body into a human shield.

Kamijou stood up with Index in his arms and looked at the sight before him. There was blood on his face. Several animals had dug into Tsuchimikado's back, having ripped his aloha shirt into pieces. He was bleeding from almost every part of his body and some of the animals that were biting into his legs had exposed his bones. The only reason why Tsuchimikado had not been torn to pieces was because of his reinforcement and ESP. Normally a human in that condition would be considered dead, but Tsuchimikado could still move, in fact, he was able to still use his left arm to pull something out of his pocket.

It had been a knife

It had been a knife that Tsuchmikado used to brutally reach forward and pierce the motionless Index with.

"Kamiyan, I'll keep this guy occupied, take Index to Tsukuyomi-sensei and tell her to listen to Index, that way she'll be fine and we'll win… Promise… NOW RUN!" More and more creatures assaulted the injured magician from behind as he spoke, old wound healing as new ones were being formed. Of course, Kamijou now had officially no idea what was going on and felt the need to shout protests into the face of Tsuchimikado but just as he was about to open his mouth Tsuchimikado shouted at him instead.

"I TOLD YOU TO RUN, NOW RUNNNN!" It was the most hysterical thing Kamijou'd ever heard Tsuchimikado say so he backed off and then started running away, intending to escape through the back entrance of the building. He could hear Stiyl shouting hysterically, probably frustrated at Tsuchimikado's action and his own incompetence, having run out of Od.

He quickly looked back at the scene just to see Tohsaka finally act again, having thrown something glittering into the air at Tsuchimikado and Nrvnqsr's direction. It quickly exploded into a massive explosion, blowing dust everywhere, obscuring Kamijou's sight.

Now Kamijou could not stop, Tsuchimikado was probably the best friend he had had in very long time and there was no way he was ignoring that desperate plea of his, even though it made no sense.

'_Just wait, Tsuchimikado, I'll definitely save you… But why did he stab index? Why tell me to take her to Komoe-sensei of all people for healing? What in the world have I gotten myself involved in? Isn't going to the hospital better than involving my teacher though… There's no way that I'm letting this girl die, just as I realized the true power of this right hand it still can't help me heal one little girl… Man Tsuchimikado, you made it hard for me this time!' _He looked down at Index as he was thinking while running down the streets in the direction of Tsukuyomi's house. Surprisingly, Index had now actually regained consciousness.

"Don't take me to a hospital, the science and magic side shouldn't mix." Even though her voice was weak she still spoke with an unprecedented calm. Kamijou's concerned and troubled look must have given away his thoughts. Perhaps she could help him put together why Tsuchimikado had acted as he did.

"Tsuchikmikado told me to take you to a person called Tsukuyomi Komoe, does that ring any bell?" Index shook her head but then spoke up

"If she is not an ESPer it is possible for her to heal me if I set up a magical array with her assistance." It was hard for Kamijou to allow her to keep speaking, it was obviously painful for her, even though her wound was not bleeding too badly it was still probably painful to breathe for her with that kind of laceration. But what she said was reassuring, Tsukuyomi was a teacher and those did not participate in the power development curriculum.

Kamijou kept running down the abandoned night streets, the glow of the orange light that emanated from the lampposts guided his path towards apparent salvation. So far, not even a single beast had followed him. Perhaps Tsuchimikado had been able to keep his promise to hold Nrvnqsr occupied while Kamijou attempted to get Index healed.

Tsukuyomi lived in a truly strange house. It was constructed from wood and only had two floors, it was a traditional Japanese house on the inside and Kamijou had originally been there a few times to receive extra education from his teacher. He wasn't the only one either, Tsukuyomi often offered to let students live there with her. It stuck out like a sore thumb too, being placed between the traditionally very modern glass and concrete buildings of Academy City.

'_Well this isn't going to be very easy to explain… "Hello Komoe-sensei, this is my half-naked friend from the church, please use magic to heal her!" I'm guess it'll work out, we'll see how she reacts…'_ Tsukuyomi herself lived on the second floor of the building, forcing Kamijou to have to walk up a pair of stairs on the side of it. He knocked on Tsukuyomi's door and then just hoped for the best. It took awhile for him to get an answer, but eventually he could hear the scurrying of feet from within the room, they came closer and closer until the door opened, revealing his teacher who was wearing a pink rabbit-themed pyjama, befitting of her underage appearance.

"Ah, Kamij-" She had a smile on her face as she spoke, but quickly halted her sentence as she noticed the injured and half-naked teenage girl in Kamijou's blood smeared hands. Kamijou had not decided what to say yet so he just stared at her, intent to let her shock vocalise itself before he started explaining anything. There was a 10 seconds long silence that consisted of nothing but Kamijou and Tsukuyomi staring each other until the deceitfully innocent teacher spoke up.

"So Kamijou-chan is into those sorts of things… As a teacher I can't tell you to stop, but please see the hospital if you have any accidents like these, come in though, I'll help you explain it to them." Kamijou should not have expected anything else, but how could that tiny teacher come to such a lewd conclusion? Not only that, but she also seemed oddly calm about it, almost as if this was something she had experience with. Kamijou sighed and cursed his misfortune.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… This is a bit hard to explain but basically I can't really go to a hospital right now… But thanks for the invitation! I'm coming in, sensei!" Kamijou's speech pattern was forced and stiff. He simply side-stepped his teacher who looked a bit apprehensive about letting the two of them in, even though she had said she would accept them.

"Well, you see, S-Sensei has been living by her self for a while now so it's a little messy in the room… Say, Kamijou-chan, you don't dislike girls that smoke right?" The inside of her apartment was littered with beer cans and ashtrays filled to the brink with cigarettes, it truly clashed with the rest of the interiors, which were a traditional Japanese, with a TV in the corner of the room with a table in the middle and a small bed on the left side, the kitchen opposing it. Kamijou gently placed down Index on the blankets by the table.

"Index, will you be okay if I leave you her with her? Will she really be able to heal you?" Index weakly opened her eyes and looked at him.

"I can't be certain, but if Motoharu told you to bring me here there is a chance that her magical potency is deceitfully high. This wound isn't immediately fatal, but we don't have much time with Nrvnqsr soon impending, there is a time limit on how long Motoharu and Rin can hold him off, even if Motoharu unleashes his full power. If I can enter John Pen mode again, we might stand a chance." Tsukuyomi was panicking after seeing the blood that seeped out of Index's gut wound and mumbled something about getting the first aid before disappearing into the toilet.

"I see. Is there anything I can do?" For Kamijou, that was the most pressing matter. Simply put, he hated when he was unable to help someone in danger and his tendency to mindlessly enter conflicts with the intention to help had led him into dizzying amounts of trouble.

"Maybe, but mostly you'll just be in the way. I suppose you could help with drawing the magical array, but as soon as we start trying to open her magical circuits and activating the array you have to leave the room, that right hand of yours could interfere." It was the cold and cruel reality. It was always like this for Kamijou. He was fate's play toy; just as he had found a use for that stupid right hand it just turned right around and became a curse.

"Heh… Such misfortune…" Right as Kamijou was about to start ranting about his bad luck, Tsukuyomi came back with a first aid kit and broke the mood. She clumsily tried to apply some treatment to Index but was rejected.

"That is not necessary. We will need to expose the wound to proceed with the magical treatment." As Index told Tsukuyomi off, the petite teacher looked up with a sad, dejected and slightly confused expression at Kamijou.

"Well, Sensei, listen here. We… we're going to use m-magic to heal that girl…" Kamijou could barely believe what he himself was saying, but after seeing the ridiculous battle between the magicians and Nrvnqsr, there was no denying that magic was real.

"Ehhh? Do you think Sensei is some kid that would believe is such nonsense? Or is this part of your role-play with this girl? You shouldn't be thinking of such things right now, Kamijou-chan!" Naturally Kamijou knew that it would not be easy for his teacher to accept the authenticity of magic, but that last part just stung, even thought he had not done anything of the sorts.

"Umm… Okay… Just think of it like this Sensei, consider the possibility that magic exists, but that it has just been hidden from you, you don't need to accept that it exists, just consider the possibility. Now, if you just act on that neutrality and give of the benefit of the doubt, you could consider helping us cast a spell, right? Just see it as an earnest request from this humble pupil of yours!" Appealing to Tsukuyomi's logical and sympathic side was the best way to get her to coerce. Kamijou put his hands into a praying gesture and put all his emotion into the sentence.

"Kamijou-chan, stop with this nonsense, this girl is clearly injured and disoriented from the shock, we should definitely call an ambulance." Tsukuyomi was quick to brush off his outrageous claims and suggested something that was rational from her view-point.

"PLEASE, KOMOE-SENSEI, JUST THIS ONCE, JUST… JUST HELP US! You don't need to believe in magic, but just follow Index's instructions! If it doesn't work I promise you can call the ambulance!" Index had said that time was of the essence as well. They needed to just quickly get her help and have Index up and running again, lest Nrvnqsr came for them before they could stop him.

"Well, Kamijou-chan, but as soon as we're done I'm applying first aid as well and this time you wont stop me, little missy." Tsukuyomi tried being stern, but like usual, it did not have that great of an effect. She could not resist the plea of her students, no matter what absurdities they came up with.

"I'm relieved to hear that… Index, how do we proceed?" Index told them to get something that could act as chalk, a piece of paper and a pen. She then quickly started drawing on the paper. Her illustration appeared to be a large circle with several other geographical figures intersecting intricately inside of it with Latin characters lining them. She produced it very quickly, despite drawing it with one hand and being on the floor, in fact, she did not even look at it.

"Draw this, but bigger, about half the size of the room, on the floor, with the chalk, it doesn't need to 100% accurate, concentrate on doing it quickly, we don't have much time." She weakly issued them orders. The figure on the paper was not that complicated, especially compared to the magical array Kamijou had seen on the entrance to his dormitory, presumably drawn by Tohsaka. Him and Tsukuyomi started working at drawing it on the floor, with the petite teacher complaining about them forcing her to vandalize her own apartment.

They had to move several of the leftover beer cans and cigarettes as they were drawing, wasting time. It took around 2 minutes for them to complete it, with Index commanding them to work faster. It certainly was not perfect, but it did resemble the figure on the paper well enough. When they were done the small nun told Kamijou to carefully place her in the middle of the figure, which he did.

"Now, please leave. If your hand interferes at this point onwards, we're finished." They were cold words, coming from Index. Kamijou just looked away for a second before making his way to the apartment door, stopping just before leaving to ask a final question.

"We'll win right? We'll definitely save Stiyl, Tohsaka-san and Tsuchimikado from that inhuman monster? Can you promise me that?" The powerlessness of Kamijou's situation was getting to him, causing him to blurt out such an absurd demand. Despite this, Index was not fazed, she earnestly answered back:

"We'll definitely save them, they're my friends too so I'll do my best to stop him." Their chances were actually really bad, had not that Nrvnqsr already defeated Index once? Was it really possible for them to come back from this situation? Yet, she answered him with utmost confidence, of course they would win.

Kamijou went outside, closed the door behind him and huddled down to the left of it. He spent a minute just sitting there, not even paying attention to the small sounds that could be heard through the door.

'_These two last nights have been crazy, it barely feels real, but I really am in a die-or-do situation here, who knows how long the three of them can hold out against that monster… If we only had enough sustainability to hold out during the night and wait for the sun, like last night…'_ At this point all he could do was cross his fingers, not something really suited for someone with such unimaginably bad luck like him.

Another minute went by. Kamijou was almost falling asleep, having had to neglect much of his sleep last night, a bad move in hindsight. However, suddenly a completely alien sound blasted through the air. It was high pitched and culminated in an explosion-like thunderclap. It was not just a sound either, the door to Tsukuyomi's apartment had blew open, scaring Kamijou and causing him to quickly stand up and look into the room.

There were no longer only two persons there.

In middle of the room, a stranger stood. It was a man. His face was of an unnatural ashen complexion, this colour reaching down to his neck and onto his chest, where a red jewel was embedded. The rest of his body was enveloped in a black tight cloth adorned with golden spiked armour which seemed almost welded to his skin. His shoulder pads were shaped in the form of a symbolical sun, but their purpose seemed less than symbolical, as from beneath them, where a cape would normally go, a steady flow of fire was emitted instead. The flames produced by the armour came together and formed a makeshift cape of fire, which oddly enough didn't actually harm the environment in the slightest. His hair was just a white as his skin and hanging under his ears were two large golden earrings. He opened his eyes and revealed the colour of his irises: blue. These were then readied towards Tsukuyomi as he opened his mouth and asked:

"I ask of thee, art thou my master?"

- Author's notes -

I do not remember where it was stated that Nrvnqsr had a dragon, but I do recall hearing it somewhere (probably Character Material or some other supplementary Nasuverse fluff), it is not too important, but I thought I would make that clear since it never appears in the original Tsukihime VN. The flying Soil of Genesis was pretty rad, but a liberal approach to Nrnvqsr as well.

Regarding the "security system" that is used by Aleister, I originally thought I would elaborate a little bit more on it in the actual narrative, considering it is quite important in this particular chapter but is actually something that has never appeared in the Index novels (read: I made it up). Basically it is magic/technology based on the number 5 Level 5 ESPer in Academy City, mental interference intended to be used as crowd control. There are a few specified not be affected by it, namely Touma, Mikoto and Accelerator. Touma has his Imagine Breaker cancelling it, Mikoto's passive magnetic field was stated to cancel the effects of Mental Out and Accelerator just vectors it. Then what about Komoe-sensei…? I think I will explain next chapter, where we'll learn a little bit more about her role in this plot.

Also, there are a few points in this chapter where the ToAru brand of magic is slightly altered to accommodate how it works in the Nasuverse, like Tsuchimikado using breathing techniques to perform his spell and Stiyl running out of steam faster than he does in the Index novels. Please forgive me!

Yes, Tsuchimikado is Level 4, and that will be explained, what will also be explained is how he holds off Nrvnqsr! I hope that you look forward to the next chapter!

THIS CHAPTER WAS LONG. I think I might have written too much.


	3. Ch1: 100300 Grimoires and The Chaos Pt2

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Franchises represented in this work, namely: To Aru Majutsu no Index (which belongs to ASCII Media Works), Fate/Stay Night and Tsukihime (which belongs to TYPE-MOON aka Notes Co., Ltd.)

CHAPTER 1: 100300 GRIMOIRES AND THE CHAOS

PART 2: LANCER

- City of Self-Reflection –

What Tohsaka Rin had thrown was on the surface but a single, ordinary gem. In reality, that gem contained a ton of excess Prana accumulated through the years, more than Tohsaka herself could carry inside her body. By combining this storage technique with her outstanding magical foundation, Tohsaka could shoot incredibly potent spells with ease. The gem, a ruby, started glowing with a daylight-like shine as it flew through the air. It had been aimed at the creatures that were trying to rip the already mortally wounded Tsuchimikado apart. It was a spell designed to harm Dead Apostles and with that much Prana poured into it, it probably could have killed a lesser one in that single strike. Although Tsuchimikado was not a vampire himself, the release of energy that came forth as the gem exploded into a sparkling burst of light was enough to knock him over. The creatures that had immobilized Tsuchimikado were naturally blown away as well, the wounds they had sustained from the spell, rotten, decayed and covered with a white hue, apparently having turned to ash.

"GET UP, TSUCHIMIKADO-KUN!" Tohsaka desperately yelled at the downed magician, fearing that if he did not get back up, the animals would recover and overwhelm him again. Stiyl was barely able to stand, his lack of Od catching up to him after having ran out of adrenaline, his face held a barely contained rage regardless, exhaustion not marring it in the slightest. The beasts injured by the spell were continuously decaying, whimpering in pain and struggling around on the ground. Tsuchimikado's automatically activated ESP had finally returned him to a state where he could walk, having healed the ripped tendons in his legs.

"Nice one, Rin! With this… I think we'll be able to survive… 'Cause I've got one last card… to play!" Tsuchimikado limped back to the two magicians, his words full of confidence but his voice ragged and obviously strained. Nrvnqsr noticed the sorry state of the beasts that had been hit and promptly absorbed them back into the chaos, intent on reforming them in there. Tsuchimikado did not have a shirt anymore, it having been completely ripped apart by the skewering he had endured while trying to protect Index and Kamijou.

"Hmm… it has been a while since I've been challenged so fully. But at this point, I doubt you can still resist me. I applaud your effort regardless." Though the voice of Nrvnqsr usually commanded attention, Tohsaka and Stiyl could not concentrate on it because as soon as Tsuchimikado turned around, they noticed a large tattoo on his back. Of course, to a magician's eyes, it was no mere tattoo; rather, what they saw was its true purpose. It was a large magical array, an extremely intricate one at that.

"Is… that your old family's; the Tsuchimikados' magical crest?" Tohsaka could not help but ask, usually she could analyze and recognize the purpose of an array fairly quickly, but she was not able to with that huge thing, causing her to uncharacteristically misidentify it. Tsuchimikado shook his head and then brought his hand to his back to touch the array.

"No… That thing's on my chest. This is something I put on myself. I didn't get a lot of practice, so I had to do this instead… inscribing this huge thing on my back… 10 Lines is a bit too much you know…" Vague as always, Tsuchimikado activated the array as he was talking, causing it to glow as Prana was being poured into it, like clay into a mold. Nrvnqsr was deploying more and more creatures, filling the battleground once again with a multitude of obsidian soldiers. His attack was imminent. The space around Tsuchimikado was being distorted as wounds being opened on his body, causing blood to flow forth in large volumes. The spell was about to activate. Tohsaka widened her eyes in realization, opening her mouth to speak.

"Wait. This presence… No way! The forbidden ar-" Those were the last words spoken before the space in front of a certain high school's dormitory building was engulfed in a blinding light, swallowing the four individuals that stood upon the grounds. When Tohsaka opened her eyes, no longer was her sight that of Academy City.

The night had been replaced by the soft glow of twilight. Tohsaka looked down to see what she was standing on, it was no ordinary soil, instead red, moist and sticky, giving the feeling that she was standing on flesh. Tohsaka took a step to examine it closer which caused the ground to give of a disgusting sound, some of it sticking to her boot as she moved. It was not just a resemblance; the ground actually seemed to be the fresh remains of human bodies, condensed to be thick enough to stand on. They were on standing on a mountain of corpses. Despite this, the foul odor of rotting corpses was not present.

Tohsaka turned the direction of her eyes to Nrvnqsr and noticed the peculiarity that in actuality stood out the most in this realm. There were borderless mirrors everywhere, simply floating in the air and as soon as Tohsaka realized this she quickly turned around to the right in order to stare at the one closest to her. The reflection did not show Tohsaka Rin, even as she stood right in front of it, it only showed Tsuchimikado Motoharu, three of him, Stiyl and Tohsaka seemingly having been replaced by Tsuchimikado in the mirror's view. Every mirror showed the same phenomena, and very notably, all of them were pointed towards Tsuchimikado himself. The mirrors were otherwise haphazardly thrown about in the realm, some floating high enough in the air that they had to face downwards. They also did not reflect anything else, only Tsuchimikados were visible in the mirrors with just a black void serving as a background.

"A Reality Marble… The manifestation of one's inner world upon the physical plane…" Stiyl broke the silence with his weak and exhausted voice as even Nrvnqsr seemed awed at the realm's abstract architecture, not having moved for a few seconds. Tsuchimikado himself seemed to be stunned by the whole thing, perhaps a reasonable reaction when exposing one's soul in front of others. The normally stoic Nrvnqsr actually had a grin on his face for once, revealing his shark-like teeth.

"So it seems. Even my own power is derived from a Reality Marble. To think that I would come across a magician who knew how to deploy his own. Interesting, I wonder, what is the function of this one?" The beasts that had also been consumed jumped at Tsuchimikado as Nrvnqsr stopped talking, ready to be used as a measuring stick against the newly formed Reality Marble. Tsuchimikado did not move an inch, still facing Nrvnqsr with his back to Stiyl and Tohsaka. There was about 10 animals heading straight for Tsuchimikado, intent on skewering him, but still he did not react, standing firm and unmoving.

As the beasts collided with Tsuchimikado the sound of heavy impact and wounds opening could be heard. But they did not come from where Tsuchimikado was standing, instead, they came from the mirrors. Tsuchimikado himself was completely healthy, not a single injury could be found on his body. So as Tohsaka looked in the direction of the sounds that had been produced from the attack she found that in Tsuchimikado's place, his reflections in the mirrors had instead been the ones damaged. Not all of them mind you, just a few, strangely causing the reflections to be different depending on what mirror you looked at. Two mirrors that contained Tsuchimikados with mortal injuries actually started descending to the ground before shattering, revealing a sea of gore beneath their surface, which spilled out on the ground, becoming part of the blood-soaked soil. Nrvnqsr seemed satisfied enough with the result.

"Very interesting indeed... I presume this is where your healing capabilities originate from." Two more mirrors took the place of the ones that had shattered, pushing themselves to the forefront in order to display the reflection of Tsuchimikado. The realm seemed to contain an infinite number of mirrors as they stretched far beyond what could be seen. The beasts were still trying to inflict any damage they could to Tsuchimikado, causing another mirror to shatter as they hung onto him by with their sharp claws and teeth. Finally, Tsuchimikado acted.

"Hmm… So this is how my soul looks huh… It's a bit grimmer than I wanted it to be in all honesty!" Tsuchimikado did not seem concerned. He turned around to face Stiyl and Tohsaka, doing so with a serene smile, only now could they see that his trademark shades had broken after that last attack, naturally not protected by the Reality Marble's ability to absorb Tsuchimikado's damage.

'_Motoharu-kun… Isn't that smile… more telling than even the landscape of your soul?'_ Tohsaka had wanted to say that sentence out loud but her voice was instead contained to her own mind as she could not bear to speak when she saw the expression that adorned Tsuchimikado's face. The magical crest that Tsuchimikado had said was on his chest now made itself visible, its intricate layout appearing as it was being activated by the flow of Prana surging throughout it. The beasts that were still desperately clinging to Tsuchimikado did not hinder the movement of a mighty clap that emerged along with the crest fully activating. The spell that Tsuchimikado had cast from his crest was a very standard exorcism of evil spirits, though its effects were not as harmful against the beasts of Nrvnqsr in comparison to their intended target the spell still produced a shockwave large enough to knock them off Tsuchimikado's body and slightly harm them.

"Onmyoudo isn't really suited for dealing with Dead Apostles… Especially not one of the Ancestors such as you…" As Tsuchimikado spoke, another mirror shattered, smearing more gore over the battlefield, the cost of an ESPer using magic was indeed a heavy one. The beasts that had been blasted away quickly positioned themselves to assault Tsuchimikado. Once again, Tsuchimikado brought his palms together in a clap, signifying the beginning of a second spell. The beasts as well, took it as the sign to start their assault and nimbly pushed off the ground to intercept his spell casting, which considering the reality marble's abilities, was probably a futile effort.

Tsuchimikado took one more pose, completing his spell, this one not activated via the magical crest on his chest. Superficially nothing happened, but as the first beast, a Leopard, came close enough via Tsuchimikado's right flank, the Onmyouji swiftly brought an elbow into its face, shattering the skull of the large feline. There were not many of the beasts currently active. A high kick crushed the chest of a gorilla; a choke grip snapped the neck of a wolf; a right hook smashed the snout of a boar; a backhand blow broke the jaw of a hippopotamus and a stomp demolished the head of an alligator. There was no technique needed by Tsuchimikado because any attack inflicted on him did not have any effect. The end of the small engagement coincided with more mirrors shattering which unleashed more compressed flesh on the battleground. The defeated beasts' corpses returned to Nrvnqsr, turning into goo and trickling along the ground to get there, oddly enough, not being bloodstained despite almost swimming through the land of gore.

"Hoh… High-level reinforcement… The nature of this realm means that destroying you is not within my capacity, so in order to escape I simply have to wait you out. Confining me within your reality marble to buy time for the right hand boy was a good move. But it is useless. I do not know your Prana capacity, but I doubt it is enough to hold this realm up for more than a few minutes. Perhaps I shall amuse myself with the two others you have also trapped in this realm…" Realizing the predicament he was in, Nrvnqsr stopped his assault and, for once, willingly started a conversation. Tsuchimikado merely smirked.

"Hah! No… The moment you entered this realm, your fate was sealed. This night will be your last, Nrvnqsr. Stalling for time, you say… It's true that this space has no offensive capabilities... My back is the shield… But my chest is the sword! This crest that I've inherited from my nearly thousand-year old family contains one of Japan's greatest spells! One used by Abe no Seimei himself!" Tsuchimikado picked out another one of his camera film roll containers and tossed it into the air after removing the lid. This one did surprisingly not contain small origami representations of the four guardians but rather a taller very intricate origami of a human warrior.

"Ridiculous… You intend to defeat me by yourself?" These words came out of Nrnvqsr's mouth as Tsuchimikado initiated the spell by performing the standard onmyoudou clap. The shockwave produced by this action was far larger than it had been before and as it reached the origami figure that was falling to the ground, it halted the folded paper's descent. A golden aura was started flowing forth from the small warrior representation, expanding outwards and lighting up the desolate and dark corners of Tsuchimikado's soul. The Tsuchimikado crest was fully visible now, every intricacy of its form and design perfectly clear.

"COME FORTH, LEADER OF THE TWELVE PROTECTORS, KUBIRA TAISHO!" The small mass of golden light that surrounded the origami now suddenly grew to the size of two men and took the shape of the figure that anchored it. Kunbira Taisho was about as large as Innocentius but lacked the titan of fire's incredible ferocity. Its presence was serene and peaceful with a hint of mercy. One hand held a golden sword and the other a golden spiked ornamental orb, a Vajra. Though the shape of the giant was mostly that of a Japanese warrior, it appeared to lack hair, instead having large spikes in its place.

"Shikigami… 'One of Japan's greatest spells'? That it may be… but Japan's greatest is nothing in the world of magic. Show me and I will be your judge. Will you be able to protect those two while also trying to defeat me? That is what I want to see." No longer was there time for conversation. Beasts started flowing forth from under Nrvnqsr's robes, entering the battlefield ready to meet the blade of their new foe.

Tsuchimikado motioned in a way that seemed to indicate for Kubira to advance by pushing both of his arm straight forwards with his palms open. The golden giant received its instructions with grace and charged into the gathering of black beasts, sword readied above its head. One strike with the translucent golden blade was enough to cleave a single beast in half. While Kubira's attacks with its weapon of choice were not as powerful as that of Innocentius' flaming crucifix, it held other properties to compensate. Each time a beast attempted to pierce the veil of golden translucent Prana they would not damage Kubira, rather, they simply passed through it, getting covered with a golden liquid in the process.

"MOTOHARU-KUN, TO THE LEFT!" Tohsaka cried out to Tsuchimikado, who was distracted with controlling Kubira. She was trying to turn his attention to three animals, a bear, an antelope and a mantis, that had slipped out from behind Nrvnqsr to avoid being noticed by Tsuchimikado. The three of them were sprinting between mirrors, to hide their form and make it further difficult to spot them in order to reach and probably eat Stiyl and Tohsaka, both whom were mostly disabled at the moment. Tsuchimikado turned around in a panic and quickly removed the lid on another one of his camera film roll containers and threw it into the air with a spin, causing the paper contained within to come spiraling out of the opening. This container held none of the intricate origami like the other two, instead filled to the brim with tiny, flat asterisk-shaped paper.

Tsuchimikado clapped which filled the small papers with Prana, causing them to glow with a green outline and hover still in the air. Tsuchimikado's arm came down like a sword to point towards the three escaped beasts. Suddenly, the small asterisks began moving like bullets, leaving a green line in their wake, intent on intercepting the animals that threatened Stiyl and Tohsaka. Tohsaka held up her arm in a defensive manner as the beasts were now dangerously close to their position. Right before the leader of the small pack, the bear, could bite into Tohsaka with its wide open maw, the spell that Tsuchimikado had cast came flying in from the right corner of Tohsaka's vision, knocking the bear and its compatriots away with terrifying force, each individual paper inflicting massive wounds.

Tsuchimikado was waddling back over to his allies. The majority of the beasts were occupied with finding a way to successfully harm Kubira so that gave him the leeway to quickly reconvene. Stiyl seemed like he had passed out, having already forced himself to stay awake far too long with barely any Od left.

"Hey, Tohsaka, how many Prana-charged jewels do you have left?" Tsuchimikado was starting to show slight signs of fatigue, his breath ragged and his overall pose not as resolute as it usually was. Tohsaka instinctively checked her pockets after the question even though she knew how many she had left.

"Uh! Se-seven! I'd rather not use all of them though if you say you can take him on alo-" The jewels that Tohsaka employed were expensive ordeals, costing around 10,000,000 Yen each, it was the price she had to pay for such a great weapon. So it came without saying that she often hesitated in using them. At this point, Kubira was still holding strong against the onslaught of beasts.

"Rin! Either we use them or we perish right here on this damn day! I lied to grab his attention! Now listen. How many of those do you need to ward off yourself and Stiyl? I need as many as possible to reinforce the Reality Marble!" Just as he finished his sentence the upwards to 50 beasts that had been battling Kubira suddenly backed down from the fight and then split into every direction, clearly intending to get away from the Shikigami and assault its caster instead.

"Uhhh, b-" Tsuchimikado quickly turned around as he noticed what was happening and then simply motioned to Kubira. Almost every single of the oncoming beasts were coated in gold after attacking Kubira. When the giant received his orders, he held out the hand that did not wield a sword, but rather a Vajra and suddenly it seemed like almost every one of the monsters that were approaching at a terrifying rate just stumbled as if someone had pulled on a rope attached to their legs. Then, the beasts slowly started being dragged backwards to the fight they had just evaded, some of them desperately trying to claw into the flesh that served as soil in an attempt to resist the force that was heaving them away from their objective.

However this did not include all of them, a cow and a chimpanzee appeared to have escaped Kubira's pull. Tohsaka quickly noted that, unlike the ones that had been dragged away, they were not coated in the golden residue of Kubira's Prana exterior. Tsuchimikado easily destroyed the throat of black chimpanzee with his reinforced fists and afterwards jumped in between the cow and Tohsaka, as the bovine had apparently been aiming for her. Naturally, Tsuchimikado himself took no damage from taking the blow intended for Tohsaka, just causing one more mirror to break in his place. He then did a downwards chop to bash in the skull of the cow.

"Rin, take as many jewels as you can afford and channel the Prana in them through the magical array on my back and try to reinforce the boundary that keeps up my reality marble. I'm not sure if I can use them myself considering they're your mystic code… Then use the rest to set up a barrier…" While Tsuchimikado spoke the two of them watched as the beasts caught by Kubira were starting to form together into a large mass of angry animals glued together by the gold colored Prana coating, circling around Kubira in the air as they did so.

"Are you sure that'll work? Depending on how you have structured that arra- Actually, it doesn't matter, does it? Either we trust in the plan of delaying Nrvnqsr, or we die, right? Crouch down so I can reach your back…" The beasts were forming into a strange clump of claws, fangs and fur whose movements were much like water, flowing around in a smooth fashion. Of course, flowing like water was impossible for animals of a normal anatomy and as such, cracking and ripping noises could be heard from the stream of creatures that Kubira had formed as their bones and muscles started breaking from the strain.

Tohsaka reached into the pockets on the inside of her large, red robes and pulled out the remainder of her jewels, all diverse in color and structure. Tsuchimikado sat down to let her begin, keeping a watchful eye on Nrvnqsr as he did so. Kubira pointed his Vajra at the main body of the Dead Apostle which caused the golden coated mass of mutilated beasts to move forwards like a tidal wave, causing destruction in its wake, destroying mirrors that were in the way. Nrvnqsr pulled out a variety of beasts to act as a shield and at the same time anchored himself along the ground by making legs and arms of animals bury into the ground while still connected to him. In the end, the strange way that Kubira had attack Nrnvqsr was not very effective.

"Is that all? It is a good spell, but it feels incomplete. It is going to be hard to amuse myself for the time I still have to remain in this space. Such a waste… I thought you would show me something much more interesting. Did you not promise that you would destroy me? If I only needed 1/10 of my strength to deflect that it clearly was not even close to being able to defeat me." Tohsaka was starting to work on channeling the stored Prana through Tsuchimikado's back. The dead heap of creatures that had been violently thrown at Nrvnqsr by Kubira was beginning to decompose into black goo in order to return to the main body and reform.

"Hah… Hahaha… That declaration was no lie, Dead Apostle… This night really will be your last… I have utmost… confidence in Kamiyan…" Tsuchimikado lightly clutched his chest as he spoke. The golden residue was separated from the beasts as they turned into goo and returned to Nrnvqsr. Kubira stood still and did nothing, but remained active for the time being, his caster apparently preferring talk over fight. Tohsaka had managed to channel six of her Prana filled gems into reinforcing the onmyouji's world's boundary, keeping one of them for herself.

"Restoring the Index? Seeking aid? Not even the strongest man in Academy City could threaten to destroy me. But still, keep on clinging to that last hope. That will make it even more enjoyable when I finally destroy you and you realize that I was right all along." Those were uncharacteristically spiteful works coming from the usually abnormally stoic Nrvnqsr. Tohsaka, having finished her work on Tsuchimikado's back, started the incantation for a barrier to shield herself and Stiyl during the time they had left in the realm.

"Is that so? What you just said confirms something I've been thinking about… You're agitated, aren't ya? You haven't fed in a while now and we've been slowly chipping away at you. You're one of the 27 Dead Apostle Ancestors, but that doesn't mean that you can keep on fightin' forever. The blow that Index inflicted on you must've been particularly nasty… and Accelerator must've been quite the challenge too… Yet so far… You haven't been able to kill a single one of us… Are you really that confident?" Taunting one of the most powerful beings on earth was not an especially wise move on Tsuchimikado's part, but could be excused considering that he would be invulnerable for quite a while after having the boundary reinforced.

"It is true that it has been a long time since I have been legitimately challenged, but you overestimate yourself. I might have taken some damage, but it is nothing notable, I have more than enough to deal with the Index or Academy City's strongest several times over. However, I will admit that it is irritating that such a lowlife magician like you has been able to stall me for such a long time." Tsuchimikado stood up as Nrvnqsr finished talking and crossed his arms. Tohsaka's barrier had been successfully erected by now but it was not especially flashy, just appearing as a few small glowing seals that hovered around her and Stiyl.

"Hmm... So what'll you do? We've got quite some time to spend together, me and you, Nrvnqsr Chaos! By the way... I hope you're enjoying the scenery, I'm the host after all, it would be insulting if I didn't take good care of my guests, no matter how violent they are!" Tsuchimikado spoke in a jesting tone of voice, clearly once again intent on getting a reaction out of the Dead Apostle.

"It is interesting. Since your family magic proved such a disappointment I think I will spend some time figuring this place out. Are you truly indestructible in this realm? Do you feel pain? Are there any limitations to it? There is only one way to find out." Nrvnqsr had once upon a time been part of the Magician's Association, whose culture revolved around the acquisition of knowledge, something that was still grimly reflected within his mannerisms as a Dead Apostle.

Once again, the beasts inside the chaos sprang forth onto the battlefield, creeping out from under the robes of Nrvnqsr. There were not too many of them, just around twenty or so. Had Tsuchimikado been right? Was he holding back in order to not exhaust himself more than he had already done that night? Kubira, who had been standing still all this time sprung back into action as Tsuchimikado ordered the Shikigami to attack in response to the emerging beasts.

_'Where does Motoharu get the Prana to keep Kubira Taisho active? Is it a consumable-type crest? I know he has good reserves, being the unparalleled expert of traditional Japanese-style magic in Necessarius despite his age... But no... Using a reality marble and such potent magic... There must be Prana stored in his crest...'_ Tohsaka pondered about the boy that, though she had met quite a few times before, only really felt clear to her after the current night's events.

Kubira was this time ignored by the pack of animals released from the Chaos. Nrvnqsr no longer held any interest in the construct, the beasts headed for Tsuchimikado and Tohsaka instead of wasting any effort on battling the Shikigami. Naturally, each stroke from the sword of Kubira meant the death a beast, but the creatures did not care, simply charging on ahead, ignoring the temporary demise of any comrades.

Kubira were on their tail, trying to cut down all of them before they could reach his master. Tsuchimikado braced himself as the beasts once again advanced upon his position. Tohsaka simply had to put faith into her barrier for the time being. Approximately eight beasts had been slain before reaching their intended target. The remaining twelve neatly split into two groups of six and attacked their respective targets.

The six had that attacked Tsuchimikado were easily dealt with as Kubira caught up with the pack and assisted his master in destroying them. The other six on the other hand collided with Tohsaka's barrier and were quickly repelled, even being injured in doing so. It appeared that as soon as they had entered the designated area for the barrier, a hand of light had pushed them out, scorching their bodies with its palms. Tsuchimikado who had been observing how the barrier had been holding up suddenly felt a presence to his right and turned around. It appeared as if Nrvnqsr had moved into close range, strange considering how he usually stayed quite far away from the front line.

"A fine barrier, but is that not a trick of the church? I know the Magician's association has a good relationship with the Anglicans, but to think they would exchange spells with your people? How low they have stooped." Kubira did not waste a second, as soon as Nrvnqsr had made it into the territory of its sword it attacked. This was the second time that day that Nrvnqsr had been attacked in close range with a sword from a humongous magical construct and just like before, he responded in the same fashion. Out from within the robes of the Dead Apostle came the claw of a dragon, grabbing onto the blade with no visible negative effect. However, this time, the dragon did not enter the field, simply throwing Kubira away and then disappearing into the shrouds of the Chaos again.

"Heh... Hi, Nrvnq-" Tsuchimikado was unable to finish his greeting as the fist of a primate buried itself in his face, having emerged from within Nrvnqsr's chest with a high velocity. Naturally, Nrvnqsr had not caused any permanent damage, but the force behind the blow was enough to send Tsuchimikado flying. The twenty animals that Nrvnqsr had released before made their way back into the main body to get reformed. Nrvnqsr lowered his gaze to look down upon the Onmyouji practitioner.

"Is your reinforcement fading? Hardly matters. Right now you are invulnerable, is that not so?" Tsuchimikado glared back at the Dead Apostle while trying to wipe away some of the blood that had stained his face after colliding with the grotesque ground. It was rare for Nrvnqsr to talk so personally to a human being, perhaps he really was agitated with the situation he had been forced into. Kubira was heading back over to Tsuchimikado after having been thrown over 50 meters away from its caster.

"That's right. Try and break me all you want! I have nothing better to do than entertain my guest~" Tsuchimikado forced himself to sound chipper in order to further enrage the Dead Apostle. Nrvnqsr probably did not need the extra push though. Several beasts drove themselves out of the main body of the Chaos in order to start feasting upon someone who could not die. Kubira tried making itself back to its caster only to be met by even more of the black creatures emerging from Nrvnqsr, halting its advance.

The beasts started digging into the flesh of Tsuchimikado only to find that his skin was like indestructible rubber, refusing to be deformed by the pressure applied, mirrors breaking instead. Of course this would be the result. But Nrvnqsr did not care, more and more animals entered the pile on top of Tsuchimikado, completely covering the owner of the Reality Marble in a dark mess of angry creatures.

"Hah... ha...ha... Go on, amuse yourself! Have fun, I'll play toy for a while!" Tsuchimikado could almost not be heard from under all of the beasts, but was practically screaming to get his message across. Not only was the sound of his voice drowned out by the beasts on top of him, but the noises made by the multitude of mirrors that had started shattering in droves was beginning to take over the realm. Kubira, stuck in attack-mode, was occupied by another multitude of beasts that attacked it, their numbers never diminishing with Nrvnqsr just sending more out once some died.

"It seems blocking light from coming in contact with your body does not stop the mirrors from reflecting you... They are not reflecting light... It is something else..." Nrvnqsr stood behind the pile of beasts, hands in his coat's pockets, calmly analyzing something that never subscribed to ordinary logic; a Reality Marble.

"But I am certain of one thing. This place is your [Self]. The mirror shattering must mean that I actually AM harming you, just not your physical body, because after all, they are also part of your [Self]..." Nrvnqsr had come to a terrifying conclusion. To heal, Tsuchimikado had to literally, die a little inside, or as it was when you were inside your own deployed reality marble, die a little on the outside. Tsuchimikado was quiet. Of course he already knew that, it was his soul after all. Every time a mirror shattered, he felt strange, as if someone had replaced something inside of him with sheer blankness. As if he was being painted over with white. A numb sensation entered Tsuchimikado's head as the mirrors continued to break.

"Ma..." He just lay there, the disgusting feeling of the beasts tearing into him, ripping him into pieces from the inside. For the sake of survival, he would sustain immense inner damage. It was not something that was irreparable, Tsuchimikado knew that, but he could not help but wonder if he would return to the real world without anything left. Just an empty shell.

"Mai...ka..." But then he remembered the one part of his identity they could not shatter.

"Maika..." The Tsuchimikado Motoharu that was a serious magician. That was not him.

"Maika..." The Tsuchimikado Motoharu that was the friend of Kamijou Touma. That was not him

"Ma...ika..." The Tsuchimikado Motoharu that obediently obeyed the wishes of his family. That was not him.

"Maika!" The Tsuchimikado Motoharu that woke up in the morning at the behest of his adopted little sister; the Tsuchimikado Motoharu that enjoyed the lunch cooked by an adorable maid-in-traning and the Tsuchimikado Motoharu that smiled as a Tsuchimikado Maika smiled back. That was him. That is who he wanted to be more than anything else.

Tsuchimikado grit his teeth. The next couple of minutes would probably be the longest his life would ever experience.

Tohsaka could do nothing but look on, having to clamp her fingers over her mouth as not to cry out to Tsuchimikado who had obviously taunted Nrvnqsr so much in order to take away any attention from her and Stiyl. She wanted to ask him:

_'How can a man whose inner world reflects his own inherent selfishness... be so selfless?'_

- The herald of dawn –

The petite teacher reddened as the stranger wrapped in a cape of fire spoke to her.

"Master? Wha-wha-wha… But I'm just an old lady!" Tsukuyomi brought her hands onto her face, trying to hide her embarrassment. Kamijou had an urge to firmly plant his palm on his face, but refrained. Naturally, he was just as shocked as Tsukuyomi at the development, but that teacher came to the strangest conclusions. The stranger noticed an odd inscription on the backside of Tsukuyomi's hands as she blushed.

"Ah, the Command Seals. Then so it is. For now, you may call me Lancer. I will introduce myself properly when we are alone, my Master." A gentle smile adorned the face of Lancer as he spoke to his summoner.

"A-A-Alone?" Before Lancer could say anything more, Tsukuyomi lost her footing and tumbled down on the wooden floor, almost passing out from embarrassment. Lancer elicited a small cry of "Master!" as she fell down and cradled her between his arms, lightly shaking her in order to make her return to her wits. Of course, this just produced the opposite effect. He awkwardly turned his head to Index and Kamijou, his expression stern, before speaking.

"Cowardly fiends, to attempt to seize victory using such dishonorable tactics, I demand you return my Master to normal!" Kamijou had honestly no clue on how to respond, perhaps this man and Tsukuyomi's capacity to come to misunderstandings was what had brought them together. Index, who was still lying down on the floor, though her wound noticeably gone, spoke to him with an oddly reverent tone.

"Do not misunderstand, Hero of old. We helped summon you so we would not wish to see your master harmed… She is just… shocked… at your appearance." Lancer listened intently and calmed himself considerably after Index had spoken, even uttering a sigh of relief before he spoke again. Kamijou once again was out of the loop, Index seemed to be an utterly endless source of magical information, being able to so calmly assess the ridiculous situation that had occurred.

"Ah, I sense no lies on your tongue. If you did help summon me, then I shall thank both of you for assisting my Master." Lancer gently put down the petite teacher who was burning red, with stars in her eyes, and then stood up straight again, facing Kamijou and Index completely.

"Hey, Index, what do you mean, "Hero of old"? Who is this guy? What is going on?" Kamijou's natural curiosity got the better of him, causing his to blurb out a few questions. Index sat up, her strength before being injured having returned.

"It's a bit too much to explain quickly, you know right… we're running out of time. I'll make it quick. He's a Heroic Spirit, a human from ancient times, revered for his accomplishments and taken to the Throne of Heroes as compensation, removing him from the cycle of reincarnation. He's been summoned as Servant Lancer in a supposedly discontinued ritual known as 'The Holy Grail War'. I theorize the grail assisted in summoning him using the magical array we drew, which was probably Tsuchimikado's intent all along." It was a bit too much for Kamijou to take in at once, her summary full of terms he had never heard before. He looked back at Lancer as if to ascertain himself as to what had happened.

"So… you mean he's like… one of those heroes from old stories and legends?" Kamijou spoke in a confused and disbelieving tone, though with what he had experienced on that night, he still did not exclude the possibility of the ridiculous notion.

"Yes. I have already identified him thanks to the fact that he is rather readily displaying his signature Noble Phantasm. But I think if I told you he'd be mad at me, so I will not. More importantly, Lancer, we require your aid. The man who arranged for your summoning is in extreme danger and we need you to rescue him. See it as repayment for him summoning you." After quickly dismissing Kamijou's questions, Index looked over to Lancer while speaking. Lancer closed his eyes as she was speaking, a troubled expression marring his face, indicating that he was having difficulties taking up her request. He then spoke.

"I see the sincerity in your plea, though it is not just him, no? I feel there a few more are there to save… Ah, there are indeed many involved in my summoning, I will just go ahead and consider myself very desired. Hmm… The reason for my summoning… It must be for me to rescue that man… That is what fate has decided. Then I should probably play my role. However, I must first consult my Master about the matter." Lancer once again kneeled down to face his master, this time with more tact, and put on a serious tone to his voice as he addressed her.

"My Master, is it alright for me to leave your side to pursue the preservation of life, to fulfill the initial purpose of my summoning?" Tsukuyomi, who had mostly gotten over her embarrassment over the exotic man, looked confused as he spoke to her, his overly polite tone probably being the cause of her bewilderment. She looked between Index and Kamijou as if to get a hint on what was happening. Getting none, she spoke with a meek tone.

"Uhm… I guess so… If that is what Kamijou-chan wants…" Lancer and Index looked over to Kamijou, waiting on his reply. It took a few seconds, but Kamijou realized that apparently the decision now weighed on him. He took a deep breath and then spoke.

"Yes. Please save Tsuchimikado, Tohsaka-san and Stiyl… That is what I want." Kamijou's eyes were full of conviction as he spoke. Lancer calmly nodded with his eyes shut, as if he had already foreseen that this was what was going to happen. He then walked forwards through the room, heading for the door which Kamijou obstructed.

"Kamijou… Good name. I trust you will protect my Master in my place? I can sense that your conviction is not false, you hold great power. I do not think any incident will occur in my absence, but do your best regardless." Kamijou stepped to the side in order to let the armored man through. But Lancer did not proceed forwards, instead eagerly anticipating Kamijou's reply.

"I will… Of course I will, I would even if you didn't tell me, damnit!" Lancer once again just calmly nodded, it seemed like he was just making sure everything was in order, almost as if he knew exactly what the outcome of the entire night would be, but just had to make sure of it all.

"If they are alive when I arrive I can guarantee that I will definitely return with them alive. No matter what monstrosity awaits me, I will prevail. You have my word." Those were the last words of Lancer before he almost disappeared as he sprinted away, leaving only a trail of strange harmless fire in his wake. That speed was definitely unnaturally high. Kamijou extended a hand as if trying to stop him from leaving, but too late.

"Um… You don't even know where they are…" Kamijou then sighed before looking back in at the females occupying the apartment. Index returned his gaze, blinking innocently, apparently she did not consider his concern much of a concern at all.

"Do not worry. The stench of Nrvnqsr would be impossible for such a venerable spirit to not detect. I also do not think you should worry about whether or not he will be able to match Nrvnqsr. Heroic Spirits are theoretically mighty enough to match Dead Apostle Ancestors." Kamijou looked at her with mild annoyance, her know-it-all attitude about magic made her a little quirky. But, nevertheless, it also made her useful.

"Hmm… So now that he's gone, would you mind telling me what the hell is going on?" Kamijou looked back at the demolished door that occupied the veranda as he spoke. Tsukuyomi stood up again, tears starting to form around her eyes as she did so. She looked like a lost child at a bustling zoo, swiftly adjusting her view from Index to Kamijou and back. She let out a quick sniffing noise and then spoke up.

"Uuu~ I would also like to know… Did I really… really… do magic? I've been feeling weird ever since we did that magical circuit opening thing, what is going on? Am I hallucinating?" Halfway through her sentence, Tsukuyomi started almost panicking, tears now visibly flowing down her cheeks. Kamijou could not help but feel pity for her, falling victim to her innocent appearance. Index sighed but ultimately decided to explain.

"Yes, Magic. That weird feeling is probably just the heat produced by the consumption of Prana. Considering it was your first time I am quite impressed, you were a fast learner. Some people are born with high magical aptitude even though they are not descended from any notable magicians' families. You appear to be one of them. Tsuchimikado, who sent us here, seemed to know this as well…" Tsukuyomi let out a small "eh?" in surprise as Index mentioned the Onmyouji who apparently had planned all this out, falling down on her knees again in the process.

"Wai-wai-wha-wha…? Is Tsuchimikado-kun a m-m-magician? And who was the handsome man who just appeared? W-W-Why am I his 'Master'?" Tsukuyomi stuttered heavily through her sentences as she tried to fight her tears down, wiping her face in the process. Kamijou took a seat right next to Tsukuyomi in an almost protective gesture and shot an accusative glare towards Index. The white-dressed nun recoiled at his sudden childish animosity.

"What is it? I haven't done anything to her! Stop giving me that look! I'll explain, I'll explain!" Index waved her hands in front of her face and closed her eyes as if to defend herself from Kamijou's gaze as she shouted out her defense. Tsukuyomi was now in full flood-mode, her tears just gushing down her face without limit. Kamijou sighed and then motioned for Index to continue while adding:

"Just go on."

- The Holy Grail War –

Over 200 years ago, three great magical families conducted a massive ritual.

The Einzbern, who wanted to complete the Third True Magic: Heaven's feel.

The Tohsaka and the Makiri, who wanted to reach the root of the world.

Each of the three families contributed to the creation of a "Holy Grail" that would summon heroes of ancient times in order to open a path to the root.

The Einzbern created the foundation of the grail, how it would summon heroic spirits and how it would grant a wish.

The Makiri created a way for the heroic spirits to manifest, by dividing them into 7 classes, and a way of binding them to humans.

The Tohsaka lent their potent magical land, Fuyuki, for the grail to take hold in.

The first iteration of the war was a test run and turned out incomplete.

The second iteration pointed out flaws in the system as the heroes turned on their masters.

The third iteration was the greatest one yet and unintentionally corrupted the grail.

The fourth iteration saw the lesser grail destroyed.

The fifth iteration, once again, saw the lesser grail destroyed.

Never once did the grail serve its intended function and as such was scheduled for discontinuation after the fifth iteration.

But that never came to pass.

The sixth iteration begins now.

- However, because it is so –

The Delta Force, composed of Aogami Pierce, Kamijou Touma and Tsuchimikado Motoharu had gone their separate ways the day before the fateful night. Aogami had left to take care of something in another district. Kamijou had tried to walk home uninterrupted but was found by the number 3 Level 5 ESPer. Tsuchimikado on the other hand, had paid a visit to the "Windowless Building" that stood tall in the southern regions of District 7. Only a single person occupied the building most of the time, the General Director of Academy City; The Wickedest Man in the World; Aleister Crowley.

"You've been using me an awful lot lately, Aleister. Wasn't I just for emergencies?" Tsuchimikado knew that the very situation they were in was in fact probably the biggest emergency Academy City had ever faced, but that did not mean he would not enjoy some mocking of Aleister, who rarely showed such moments of weakness in his planning.

"Hmph… Fuse=KAZAKIRI is not even close to completion yet; Anti-Skill and Judgment are far too underdeveloped; The various underground organizations maintained by the Board of Directors are not even close to powerful enough and with Deep Blood sealed away, I have simply no choice but to use the security system while relying on you guiding the magicians through this situation." Aleister did not mind the disrespectful tone that Tsuchimikado took with him, merely rationalizing his intentions.

"If I was to guess… The security system is not enough, is it? How many casualties were there last night, exactly?" Though one might interpret Tsuchimikado's question as one born out of empathy, his voice was completely void of even a hint of emotion.

"You're right. There were around 50 casualties last night. I plan to significantly decrease that amount this night. By deploying ITEM and SCHOOL to pick of any of Nrvnqsr's beasts that are on feeding duty and having you and the magicians fight the main body I estimate that I can bring down the amount of casualties to one-fifth of the previous amount." Aleister, too, did not show a tinge of emotion as he spoke of his plans to save lives.

"Oh yeah, you do know that me, Stiyl and Rin-chan aren't enough to deal with Nrvnqsr, right?" Of course Aleister knew, but Tsuchimikado asked in a probably useless attempt at bringing the conversation in the right direction.

"The path that alchemist caused my calculations to head was in the most unfavorable direction, this might delay some of my other plans… I only have three solutions on how to deal with Nrvnqsr without taking to drastic measures. One of them does not rely on you and would probably put you in danger as well, so if you want to live, succeeding with one of your two tasks would be in your favor." Tsuchimikado had rarely experienced such threats, indirect as they were, from Aleister before, probably indicating that the General Director was in a rare state of mild anger.

"Heh, that Izzard fella' sure messed things up, I guess not even you expected him to cause quite as much trouble as he did. Well, before you tell me what to do, I'm curious, what's the 'third option'?" The way that Tsuchimikado interacted with Aleister was odd. They co-operated under a sort of mutual threat to each other. Aleister effectively held Tsuchimikado Maika hostage at all times while Tsuchimikado Motoharu held lots of information about Academy City that if revealed, could very easily be a huge setback to Aleister's plans. So they both acted as the hostage and the captor at the same time.

"I managed to acquire a bearer of the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception some time ago. But I would rather not use them for this predicament; those eyes are far too unpredictable for my tastes." Tsuchimikado whistled in faked amazement, once again trying to mock a being that had long ago shed itself of a sense of humor.

"Really? I thought they didn't even exist… So anyways, what about my role then?"

PLAN 120567 ASSESMENT FILE, ACCESS: TSUCHIMIKADO MOTOHARU. THREADS A-B FOUND. PRINT START

[A]: Identify the target known as "Nrvnqsr Chaos" and send the signal to activate the Index while stalling for time. If successful, the Index will destroy or chase away the Dead Apostle. If not successful, or Index is not successful, [Switch to B].

[B]: Deploy reality marble after sending either, Tohsaka Rin, Stiyl Magnus or the Index with strict instructions to guide Tsukuyomi Komoe into activating a magical array, any method is fine. If successful, Heroic Spirit [CONFIDENTIAL] will destroy or chase away the Dead Apostle. If not successful, Tsuchimikado Motoharu's role is completed, with a high likelihood of his death, or if Heroic Spirit [CONFIDENTIAL] is not successful, [Switch to C].

[C][D][E][F]: [CONFIDENTIAL]

PLAN 120567 ASSESMENT FILE, ACCESS: TSUCHIMIKADO MOTOHARU. THREADS A-B FOUND. PRINT END

The piece of the world that was kept inside of Tsuchimikado using a bounded field was released as the gnawing of Gaia's Prana was finally too much for it to handle. At the same time, this caused the inner world of Tsuchimikado to return to its proper place. Now, it was possible to harm the magician, and being dog piled under up to 50 large and dangerous familiars that belonged to the number 10 of the Dead Apostle Ancestors, harm was likely to result in death.

However, though the creatures were able to inflict immense damage on Tsuchimikado, they did not manage to kill him before a massive explosion blew all of the black beasts away from his position, the force of the explosion pushing the air out of the onmyouji's lungs and leaving him slightly charred in addition to his injuries, but still barely alive. Beside him stood the golden clad Servant, one hand stretched out in a protective gesture, no weapon visible in his hands.

"It seems the world has asked for your survival, young magician." The golden clad man did not look down on the nearly knocked out Tsuchimikado as he spoke, instead keeping his eyes on the opponent: Nvrnqsr Chaos. The Dead Apostle's expression was extremely focused, not once before during the night had it been on his face, indicating that this was the point at which he was finally legitimately threatened. He opened his mouth before closing it, as if he did not quite know what to say. Finally he spoke.

"I see. There was no way I could have taken this into consideration… Should I retreat? Hmm…" The creatures that had been caught in the inexplicable burst of flames were almost completely destroyed, the flames having finished off the ones not ripped to shreds after the initial explosion, one by one, they returned to the main body of the Chaos.

"…" Lancer did not answer the Dead Apostle. A single silent second passed over the night. Suddenly, a rush of creatures emerged from within the robes of Nrvnqsr, pouncing Lancer with ferocity exceeding that of any of their previous attempts at taking a life that night. The Dead Apostle Ancestor and the Heroic Spirit clashed.

Tsuchimikado could feel two hands under his shoulders, trying to pull him up from the ground. Tohsaka had temporarily disengaged her boundary after the arrival of the Servant and was trying to get the half-dead Tsuchimikado away from the battlefield. She heaved him onto her back, causing the blood flowing out of his injuries to stain the back of her hair and robes, and brought him to the same place where an unconscious Stiyl was lying, surrounded by the lowered barrier.

"You… stubborn… little brat… I can't believe you… Why am I always surrounded by these kinds of people?" Tohsaka lowered Tsuchimikado down right next to the downed fire-magician while speaking and then activated her bounded field again. The onmyouji was breathing irregularly, his eyes out of focus, prompting Tohsaka to attempt at healing him, her entire form dropping down on the ground besides him, hands on his chest. After a few seconds Tsuchimikado started coughing and then quickly brought his hand up to try and push away the healing hands, his mouth finally uttering some quiet, mumbled words as well.

"Come on… You ain't got that much Od left… I'll heal on my own…" Tohsaka sighed and withdrew her ever so slightly shaking hands from his chest, placing them on her thighs instead. The sound of fierce battle was close by, yet its presence felt far removed from the three completely exhausted magicians. There were nothing lost between Tsuchimikado and Tohsaka, logically, when most people looked at the situation they had endured, they would come to the conclusion that the three of them should have died. Tohsaka brought up one hand to her face and rubbed around the eyes to remove any tears, tears that were not there, after which she opened her mouth to speak.

"You should be more polite to your seniors, Motoharu-kun." Tohsaka quickly went back to her normal, composed self, the brief flash of weakness that had just been revealed feeling almost surreal in comparison. Tsuchimikado's eyes fluttered, his body urging him to rest, due to his Od deficiency. Right before the night's embrace could take him away though, Tsuchimikado took Tohsaka's advice, as her junior.

"Yes, you're right. Thank you, Rin-chan, without you, there would… not… have… be-" Tsuchimikado clearly had something more to say, but fell into almost a death-like state of sleep in the middle of his sentence. The sounds of the Heroic Spirit's and Dead Apostle's struggle echoed throughout the entire city, Tohsaka knew everyone was being forcibly kept asleep but could not help but wonder how far the noises travelled. It was an encounter between two beings that should have never met.

"Heh… Just when I was about to ask, you fall asleep… It's not deliberate, but it's just like you, I think. I wonder… Is this the culmination of what happened back when the grail was stolen?"

- Fortissimo in silence -

Nrvnqsr ultimately decided against retreating.

'_This opportunity is too good to let up. Normally it would be impossible to get your hands on the Index, as it is always within the territory of the churches. Even this chance in Academy City is normally not possible, due to the influence of Deep Blood. As much as we dislike to, if push comes to shove then we might have to use the 999th beast.' _At this point, there was no holding back. Beasts flooded out of Nrvrnqsr's body as if he was broken faucet. The sheer amount of creatures emerging at the same time obscured Nrvnqsr beneath the incredible volume of them all. They had only one target.

Lancer was unarmed and just calmly walked forwards in a vaguely cautious manner, mostly just keeping his eyes on any incoming animals. The beasts came upon him time and time again, but each time they came close, a fist sprung up from Lancer with massive speed, hitting them not only with bone-shattering strength, but also with searing hot flames that erupted from the fist upon impact. Lancer barely even looked bothered, his advance not hindered in the slightest, the dismissive way that he handled the beasts was very akin to waves crashing onto a cliff, the motion of his attacks being mere blurs.

Nrvnqsr was not especially bothered by the apparent ineffectiveness of his assault; he too, was merely getting started. The beasts stopped throwing themselves in wild abandon at Lancer and instead started collecting numbers, impatiently watching as the alleged spearman continued his slow advance onto Nrvnqsr's position. They started circling Lancer, obviously preparing for an omnidirectional assault. Just a few seconds later, as the numbers of beasts had reached easily over 100, every single one pushed off the ground to charge at and completely surround Lancer from every angle at the exact same second, not giving him any time or space to deflect them.

The cage of beasts that had formed around Lancer lasted but half a second. Another massive explosion ensued, originating from within the swirl of creatures that had surrounded the Servant, scattering hundreds of the animals away from him. The cape of flames that seemed to be part Lancer's armor was spiraling around him in a manner you would not expect neither flames nor cape to do before returning to its normal state, as a mere mantle.

'_There is no mistaking it now. These are definitely no mere replicas, which means that we are dealing with a true Heroic Spirit, and a truly dangerous one at that.'_ Once again, the beasts threw themselves at Lancer without regard for either safety or tactics. It was merely a scheme to slow down the Servant's march, not a particularly effective one though. Even now, the Servant had not even drawn his weapon. The body of Nrvnqsr looked like it was boiling, as if something far too large to actually emerge was trying to force itself out of him.

'_Bête__, Courtaud and Lobo__… So the three man-eating wolves are interested enough to come forth.'_ The paws came out first, they were several times larger than that of a normal wolf and just like every other one of Nrvnqsr's beasts; Jet black. The ground cracked under the pressure of their massive weight. Their snarls were more reminiscent of demons than that of wolves and when fully emerged, they stood taller than Nrvnqsr himself.

All the other beasts almost stopped in reverence of the three that had emerged. The man-eaters took a few preliminary steps and then curled down into a pose to ready themselves for attack before throwing their enormous bodies at Lancer with terrifying speed, easily breaking the sound barrier, something which caused an deafening sound to echo throughout the city. Lancer, for the first time, took a proper stance, bracing himself for impact.

Courtaud was the fastest of the three and was thus the quickest in reaching Lancer, though this did him no favors because as soon as he was face to face with the Servant, a golden flash struck out, cleaving the large wolf's face apart and leaving fire to inhibit the wounds. Lancer pushed the massive corpse of Courtaud to the side as Lobo approached from the Servant's right flank. Nrvnqsr could see another swift motion coming from Lancer's right arm, the strike, unlike the one that had hit Courtaud, was more like a batter hammer of flames than a slice, crushing the skull of Lobo with immense power, the fire emerging from the hit also melting part of the head.

But this was it. By sacrificing themselves, the first two wolves had created an opening for Bête to abuse. Nrvnqsr could use such suicidal tactics because no matter what, his animals would never be permanently vanquished. Bête came from the right flank, just as Lancer had crushed the skull of the Lobo, whom had approached from the opposite flank. But it did not matter. Lancer did the unthinkable and simply extended his left hand to stop Bête's attack, the power of which was enough to push the Servant backwards, but apparently, not enough to damage him. The golden armor seemed to have completely protected Lancer.

It was at that instant, that Nrvnqsr could finally catch a glimpse at the weapon that had without mercy, killed the first two man-eaters. In the right hand of Lancer was a wholly golden spear. Its design was irrational, for one, it did not possess an edge, a simple point adorning the bottom and top of the spear; secondly, it had no wooden parts, being forged from a pure gold-like metal. It resembled an oversized, golden sewing needle without an eye. Various Sanskrit inscriptions adorned the entire length of the two and a half meter long weapon. The length of the javelin and the design of the tip obviously hindered the spear's capability to act as a close combat weapon but that had apparently not stopped it from being used as such, the strange flames erupting from the weapon compensating for its lack of cutting power.

Bête soon, too, had to go face to face with the weapon, his skull being smashed by the spear in a fashion that was more reminiscent of a club-strike than a spear strike. Lancer's incredibly durable armor, combined with the flames that seemed to emerge from his being, completely eliminated normal fighting techniques from his battle repertoire. He wielded his spear with one-hand so he could use the other to block; he used his armor to take on normal attacks without repercussion, just to get a chance to counterattack and he did not aim for lethal hits with either, just a hit, as the flames would take care of the rest. When one possessed such inhuman properties, the technique used was not one that normal humans could ever replicate. This style of fighting was Lancer's, and Lancer's alone.

The instant after the third of the great man-eaters had perished, the rest of the creatures were already onto Lancer again, trying to sink their claws, fangs, beaks and teeth into him, but to no avail. Lancer, with his spear in hand, was no longer restricted to just walking, instead, he soared forth at insane speed, leaving corpses in his wake as his javelin paved the path to the main body of Nrvnqsr. The amount of burning animal corpses was starting to light up the dormitory grounds, dimly reflecting the shadows of Nrvnqsr and Lancer on the walls.

'_Devilish cunning panther…'_ The final obstacle before Lancer could reach his destination was a massive leopard, on par with the three man-eating wolves in sheer size. Though the leopard had claimed over a hundred lives before becoming part of the Chaos, it could not take a single life this night, as Lancer slew it, just like all the other beasts, with a single thrust of his javelin. The spear pierced the skull of the large feline after which the flames that were emanated from the weapon caused the rest of the head to explode. By supercharging his weapon with blazing Prana, causing the spear to heat up so much that it could melt through rock, Lancer was able to slice the body of the leopard apart and then charge through the two halves as the black bloodlike substance of the beast sprayed across his path.

Nrvnqsr did not have enough time to deploy any defenses, though beasts emerged automatically to protect him as Lancer advanced upon the position. However, any defenses that had been able to make it up in time had proven absolutely useless, as Lancer was already behind Nrvnqsr, who had been brutally dissected into three now burning pieces.

Lancer stood perfectly unmoving, his back still facing Nrvnqsr in an aloof manner. Naturally, even though Lancer was one of the most venerable Heroic Spirits known to man, he would still not know just _how _supremely hard it was to kill the being known as Nrvnqsr Chaos. Lancer had already assumed his victory. It was a complete success, as aside from his golden armor, which had a negligible Prana cost anyways, he had not once needed to invoke any one of his Noble Phantasms.

But, the tenth Dead Apostle Ancestor was not such an easy foe to vanquish. When Lancer felt movement he calmly turned around, directing his back to the end of the hill that led up to the dormitory, from which you could see the sleeping city. The pieces of Nrvnqsr that had been scattered all over the dormitory grounds gathered back where Lancer had fought the three man-eating wolves. Nrvnqsr was completely reformed in just a second, no longer in three pieces or on fire. In addition, there was once again distance between the two combatants again.

'_We must use it then, the 999__th__ beast… The ultimate expression of the Chaos' strength…'_ Nrvnqsr wasted no time, his form started disfiguring, growing erratically, causing his robes, which were really just part of the chaos, to disappear into his body. The process was not instant, but practically, for any ordinary human, it was, unfortunate for Nrvnqsr then, that Lancer was by no means any ordinary human. As soon as Lancer indentified that his enemy was attempting to power up, he charged, his armor once again leaving a trail of flame behind.

Lancer arrived in order to attempt to deal another killing blow to the Dead Apostle. However, he failed in abusing the small window of time that Nrvnqsr's defenses were left open due to his transformation. Lancer's spear was just a few centimeters away from piercing the chest of Nrvnqsr when suddenly a monstrous fist hit him square in the face with such an immense force that it sent the spearman flying off of the hill that the dormitory resided on.

Nrvnqsr's new appearance was a mockery of the human form. At almost three meters in height, it towered over every ordinary human that had ever lived. His four limbs were longer than they should be in proportion to the rest of the body, the arms reaching down all the way to the knees of the equally elongated legs. The entire figure was practically bursting with muscles, even in places where it did not make sense. His neck was no longer facing upwards, but forwards, placing the head in front of the body instead of over it. While the skin was black just like all the other animals that Nrvnqsr possessed, it now had a metal like sheen covering it, giving it the appearance of finely tempered dark steel. Here and there on the skin there were cracks that seemed to hint at the imperfection of the Chaos and it felt like one could see straight into the void through these windows, which occasionally gazed back with a red stare.

Nrvnqsr charged along the ground with his new form, building up speed and then racing off the hill that he had sent Lancer soaring away from. Meanwhile, Lancer was still airborne, with no way to stop his momentum he had to simply accept the fact that he would crash into the ground somewhere in the city. However, this was not his biggest problem, the true predicament was what would happen afterwards, the golden armor could endure the impact of the fall, but another hit from Nrnvqsr would be costly.

By stretching out his legs and arms wide in the air, Lancer was able to slightly avert the position of his body in relation to the ground. With his legs facing downwards, Lancer was aiming to land on his feet in order to be ready for any follow-up attack. For there was a follow-up attack coming, Nrvnqsr too, was now airborne, his trajectory in perfect line with Lancer's. The two of them were quickly approaching the orange-tinted tiles of District 7's shopping district.

Naturally, Lancer hit the pavement first. There had been so much force behind the initial strike of Nrvnqsr that Lancer kept sliding along the ground, cracking and fracturing it along the way, causing splinters of the orange tiles to spray over the shopping district. Just as Lancer stabilized, Nrvnqsr's follow-up attack arrived. The hands of the Dead Apostle were clamped together and came plummeting down upon Lancer who used his spear, tightly held between both of his hands, to block the strike.

The golden armor and the direct block with the spear seemed to have protected Lancer reasonably enough from the attack. It was as if the pure defensive power of the armor had turned him into an unbreakable statue. The same could not be said about the street, the shockwave produced by the supersonic-strike broke nearby store windows and the ground upon which Lancer had planted his feet became a crater.

In the middle of the struggle between the two, they managed a brief instance upon which they could look at their respective opponent's face. Nrvnqsr visage was but a pathetic mockery of a human's, but Lancer, despite his inhuman properties, was a clear reflection of the mortal concept of beauty, his expression bore a very faint smile as he looked Nrvnqsr in the eye, the golden earrings that seemed welded into the Servant's ears were shaking wildly after enduring the shockwave. It was then that it dawned upon Nrvnqsr.

'_That smile, that armor and those earrings… I see. So his identity is…'_ While Nrvnqsr was in the middle of a revelation-induced stupor, Lancer took the opportunity to initiate a counterattack. By shifting his spear to an angle, Lancer was able to redirect the massive strike so that it pushed him to the side instead of downwards. The momentum behind the strike pushed Lancer towards his left, but at the same time, he had also used his legs to jump off the ground, with these two forces intersecting, Lancer was launched into the direction of a building some 100 meters away. However, in his flight, Lancer had managed to reach out with his spear and sliced in the direction of Nrvnqsr's unprotected right flank before his momentum carried him away from the position. It was an attack for which no counter existed. Nrvnqsr's right chest area and shoulder was slightly damaged by the slice, but more importantly, he suffered burning damage from the flames that emerged in the cut's wake. In comparison to the beasts which Lancer had almost effortlessly sliced apart, the defensive power exhibited by Nrvnqsr's new form was vastly superior.

Lancer landed on the side of a building, causing it to crack profusely, deftly managing to once again hit the surface with his feet first, which allowed him to push against the building and propel himself at Nrvnqsr again. Nrvnqsr could naturally heal his injuries in this form as well, perfectly sealing the wound and even dousing the flames left in it. A golden blur with a trail of flames following it approached the Dead Apostle's position with terrifying speed. However, the attack had not come fast enough, for at the moment, there were no breaches in Nrvnqsr's defenses. As Lancer struck with his spear, Nrvnqsr almost lazily brought up his the forearm of his left arm which, even more than any other part of the Dead Apostle's new body, gleaned like steel.

The right arm of Nrvnqsr readied itself in order to counterattack. However, it almost seemed like the strike failing was within the estimations of the spearman, as he finished his attacking motion by placing his feet around where his attack had been successfully blocked, on Nrvnqsr's left forearm, and pushing off it, causing him to dodge the incoming punch as he did a flip in the air.

But Nrvnqsr was not done, as soon as he saw the Servant jumping over his fist, he immediately readied the arm which had, in an unintentional act of betrayal, served as a platform for Lancer, and aimed at the airborne spearman. In terms of sheer speed, Nrvnqsr was definitely the faster between the two, both in movement and attacking speed, however, his large and unwieldy body, designed solely for maximizing power, could not pull off the same acrobatic maneuvers as Lancer. The strike, once again, could not reach Lancer, as the Servant bent his body midair at the last second as soon as he saw the punch coming, leaving only the cape of flames within the attack's reach and hitting that thing definitely did Nrvnqsr no favors.

Most notably though, after avoiding the strike so skillfully, Lancer did something even more skillful: he grabbed onto the arm that had launched the attack and used it as leverage, this time to launch himself just slightly above Nrvnqsr head, his spear going for the throat of the Dead Apostle in the process, causing a deep wound to form there, before the momentum carried the Servant away from his opponent. Finally, Lancer was allowed to let his feet touch the ground after being airborne for such an extended period of time, landing a few meters behind the injured Nrvnqsr.

But there was no pause. Nrvnqsr healed his injury as he turned around to face the Servant, his fist already raised in preparation for another attack. But on Lancer, an initial strike would probably never hit unless he permitted it, which he often did, as most of the time his golden armor could absorb the damage and this would then open an opportunity for the Servant to counterattack. However, against Nrvqnsr, this way of fighting was currently unviable; the Dead Apostle's hits were simply too heavy.

Thus, Lancer had to resort to this unstable style of fighting. The right fist of Nrvnqsr came crashing down and as predicted, Lancer was able to avoid the first strike, this time by simply side stepping it and then pushing forwards with his feet, entering Nrvnqsr's guard. By using his left arm and ignoring defense, Nrvnqsr initiated the second strike, utilizing his superior speed to strike before Lancer could attack him. However, Lancer did not even try to attack, instead deftly avoiding the second fist as well, and then driving his spear right into where there logically should be a heart, if Nrvnqsr was of a human biological composition. The Noble Phantasm, with its hugely pointed tip, easily penetrated the entirety of Nrvnqsr's upper body, emerging out of the back of the Dead Apostle. Flames burst out of the openings of the wound, both on Nrvnqsr back and his front.

Counterattacks, maneuverability and finally, mind games were the three things that Lancer emphasized in his battle technique. However, in this instance, he had been the one to get tricked. The injury he had inflicted upon Nrvnqsr was not one that could kill the Dead Apostle and the fact that the spear was so deeply embedded in the Chaos meant that Lancer did not have time to pull it out before a vicious backhand from the right arm of Nrvnqsr hit him square in the face. Lancer's right hand was gripping the spear so firmly that it dislodged from Nrvnqsr as he was sent flying by the sheer power put behind the blow.

'_Hmm, this is getting dangerous. We need to feed. The ones of us on feeding duty seem occupied. No… they are returning as pure Chaos… Did they lose? Kuh! It appears we have underestimated this city. No, we underestimated you, General Director! '_ After passing through an entire building, Lancer finally regained control of his body, clearly shaken by the strike as he was unable to get up without steadying himself using his right arm, his left wiping off some blood that had burst out of his mouth after the hit.

A shockwave resonated and Nrvnqsr came charging through the tunnel formed in the building that separated the two combatants, causing the passageway to grow in diameter as he plowed through it. Lancer, still slightly unbalanced, did not have the capability to act out any of his more advanced maneuvers and simply opted to dive to his left in a frantic fashion. The right fist of Nrvnqsr drove down close to the evading Lancer, shattering the pavement and causing debris to scatter in the air. The other side of the improvised tunnel had brought them onto a highway.

Now with the tempo in Nrvnqsr's favor, Lancer had no choice but to keep dodging, effectively putting him on the defensive. More and more of the highway got destroyed as Nrvnqsr chased after the agile Servant, his strikes hitting the ground every time he missed. For Nrvnqsr it was almost strange, he was definitely faster, not to mention stronger than Lancer, yet his strikes always missed by a hair's breadth. The for this reason was fairly easy to understand, Nrvnqsr's basic fighting pattern just revolved around a simple one-two punch, usually nothing but a right hook followed by a left hook, after which he repeated the pattern. Of course he had not taken the time to think about his fighting technique, he had been a magician in life, not a warrior. Normally, Dead Apostles learned all kinds of stuff over the ages due to their long lives, but Nrvnqsr had never needed to learn any basic fighting techniques using his fists, because usually, he always relied on his beasts, the 999th beast, the rare occasions upon which he did invoke it, usually resulted in him completely crushing his opponent with sheer might. Yes, the strong had no need for technique, at least not against the weak, it was unfortunate then, that Lancer was not weak.

Not being able to look through this brainless pattern was completely impossible for an experienced warrior. Eventually, Lancer found himself in a situation where he could retaliate, his stance once again in total balance. But that did not mean he did. Lancer mysteriously enough, just kept dodging, this time almost nonchalantly. Eventually he led them to pass under a bridge that stood above the highway, there to transport pedestrians when there was heavy traffic. After the second strike of Nrvnqsr's pattern, Lancer jumped into the air, landing feet first upon the downside of the bridge and then charged down again, his spear brandished with both of his hands. Nrvnqsr blindly turned around and threw his right fist upwards to chase Lancer, missing, once again, with a hair's breadth, the Servant having perfectly predicted the retaliation. The golden weapon came down in a mighty slashing motion, something unbefitting of the spear's design, but made possible due to the immense heat given off from the fire that surrounded Lancer's weapon, and sliced off the entire right arm of Nrvnqsr. Not only that, but after finishing the attack, Lancer kicked the arm, making it fly away from the battlefield.

Nrvnqsr needed that right arm to regenerate, especially in this dire a situation, so to kick it away meant that at least an opening of two seconds, the time it would take for it to return as chaos and reform, would be enabled for Lancer. That opening needed to be fully utilized, so Lancer did just as such, putting his full power into the next couple of seconds. Nrvnqsr, slightly baffled at the outcome of that particular clash, simply choose to attack again with his left arm. Lancer dodged, and now, there was no chance of retaliation from the right arm, so he could just go right ahead and attack doing so by simply cutting off the left arm as well, and just like the right arm, kicking it away afterwards. One second had passed.

Nrvnqsr, without his arms, both his defensive and offensive armaments, was, for the remaining one second, completely helpless. But what did a one second window matter? Lancer had not been able to kill him before. The Dead Apostle would just regenerate again. No, Lancer's plan to disarm Nrvnqsr had been very deliberate, just a precaution in fact. The Servant had already come to conclusion that normal strikes would not suffice. So by disabling Nrvnqsr's defences, Lancer intended to get himself an opportunity to crush the Chaos in a single blow. The invocation of a Noble Phantasm!

"BRAHMA-" Nrvnqsr's eyes widened as Lancer, who had in a single lead placed himself around five meters away from his opponent, readied his spear in order to throw it, to unleash the true function of the weapon. One and a half second had passed

"-ASTRA!" As Lancer finished his invocation, the spear soared through the air with a golden glow surrounding it, distorting the air and lighting up the entire street. Nrvnqsr had no time or space to dodge at such a distance nor could he defend, it was a direct hit. Nrvnqsr's form was engulfed in light and then ripped apart in the ensuing explosion. The concept behind Brahmastra's invocation was simple: "Hit and kill as many as possible", that was it. It automatically tracked the target after being released, meaning, trying to dodge it was meaningless, and then hit it, expending the Prana that had gone into the invocation as an explosion. Two seconds had passed.

"Karna…" The voice of the defeated Dead Apostle still remained. Only a small part of Nrvnqsr remained, his upper torso, and even that seemed to be fading as his accumulation of history needed to be unraveled before he could disappear. Lancer's Brahmastra faded into golden particles as it returned to spiritual form, causing it to disappear from view. For the first time ever, Lancer, or rather Karna, whose true identity had been correctly assumed by Nrvnqsr, spoke to his opponent, taking on a stern tone as he did so.

"That's right. It is only proper you introduce yourself if you intend to speak to me." Karna looked down upon the dying Nrvnqsr with a hint of pity. Nrvnqsr bared his teeth in a wicked grin, as if he had been looking forward to the moment he could finally announce his name.

"I am Chaos! My name is Nrvnqsr, tenth of the Dead Apostle Ancestors!" At first, Karna almost seemed disappointed with the answer, but then took on a gentle, yet pompous smile. Yes, Karna did not accept the answer, for it was not the truth, so he sought it, straight from the mouth of Nrvnqsr.

"That's not quite right, now is it?" A period of brief silence erupted between the two after Karna spoke. The small remains of Nrvnqsr's face looked confused, but then slipped into an almost nostalgia fueled bliss. Nrvnqsr Chaos was a name he had received from the Church. Yet he had liked it, he had even thought of it as his true name, your enemy knows you the best after all. But that was not his name nor was it his true identity. He had at some point convinced himself that he was the Chaos, that he was Nrvnqsr, but whose ideals did those identities follow and whose personality were those identities based on? Yes, one magician had placed the Chaos on a pedestal, so much so that he had convinced himself that his ultimate goal was to fully become it. That man's name was:

"Fabro… Rowan…" Those were the final words of a man who had for hundreds of years, been lost in his own self. Karna looked to the sky. The dawn had come, putting an end to the horrible night. Though it had not been an elegant fight, Karna felt slightly satisfied with it regardless. Even though the Dead Apostle had been sloppy and one-dimensional, he had truly put his all into the struggle, so much so that Karna even felt quite exhausted.

"Ah, did you defeat him?" A female voice could be heard. Karna looked over his back, averting his glare from the spot at which Nrvnqsr, no, Fabro Rowan had perished. It was one of the people he had saved from the monster. Her name was Tohsaka Rin. The magician woman made herself over to the spot whereupon Karna stood stoically, after which the Servant entered in conversation.

"Yes. So it appears. I am sorry, but I must return to my Master in haste, I am afraid that I overexerted myself in this battle enough to have worn her out. If you so desire, I could take you with me." Tohsaka looked at him like he was crazy and then scratched her head.

"You sure are polite and trusting, especially for a Servant. I am another magician, you know? I could be a potential Master. But sure, I will accept your offer. My name is Tohsaka Rin. You seem like one of those especially noble Heroic Spirits… But before we go, I just wanted to ask… Is he really gone?" It was very typical of Tohsaka to complain about people not wanting to kill her when they should, especially since she seemed to be just as trusting.

"As I said: So it appe-" Tohsaka was pointing at a very small portion of the hardly lit ground, and when Karna noticed, he promptly shut up. On that spot was a miniscule droplet of the same strange goo that had characterized Nrvnqsr Chaos, shaking vividly.

"Hmm, how does he remain? I thought I obliterated his entire being…" Karna put a hand on his chin and crouched down as he inspected the small blob. Tohsaka too, joined him in the endeavor. After a few silent seconds of both of them observing the eerily trembling speck of Chaos, Tohsaka rummaged in her robes for a few seconds before pulling out a small ornate box made out of wood. Right now, it was empty, but was presumably used for handling delicate relics.

"Umm, would you mind picking it up for me? I don't have an awesome armor like you and I'm afraid of touching it…" Karna blinked, surprised at how accustomed Tohsaka was already acting around him. He nonetheless picked up the small blob up without any complaints and then deposited it in the box that she held open for him. After watching Tohsaka seal the wooden box with a quick incantation, Karna simply placed his left arm around her waist, taking a firm hold of her and then jumped off in the direction from which he had come from.

"I am terribly sorry, you already introduced yourself but I sadly cannot do the same, so please, for now; simply refer to me as Lancer." Karna had to once again repeat this line of reasoning to another person and it annoyed him greatly. The landscape under their feet changed rapidly as Karna jumped from building to building. It was not a sight new to Tohsaka, she had actually been a Master in the previous Holy Grail War, just her luck that she found herself enraptured in the next.

"I do not mind, I know about the Holy Grail War, so I understand. However, could I use your rudeness as an excuse to get a favor out of you, Lancer? I would very much appreciate it if you picked up my two friends as well. I believe you saw them earlier." As soon as Tohsaka finished talking, Karna snickered lightly.

"Well... Of course, my Madam!"

- Calamity shift -

"Ah, seems rather complicated for a single ritual… Hey, Komoe-sensei, are you listening?" Kamijou had patiently listened to the whole monologue that Index had spouted out about the Holy Grail War, naturally, he had understood only about 20% of it. Tsukuyomi, on the other hand, seemed to have lost focus somewhere along the line and fallen into a kind of fever induced trance, probably missing most of the explanations.

"Auu, don't worry Kamijou-chan… Sensei is fine~" Naturally, she answered a question that Kamijou had not even asked, clearly having missed the actual one. Index looked at Tsukuyomi with a half-concerned look on her face. Despite her own claims, the petite teacher was clearly not fine, that much was clear. Index sighed and then muttered out a phrase.

"That Servant must be pushing himself over Komoe's limits… Well, it is not really his fault anyways, after all, this is the first time she's ever used her magical circuits… She is simply not used to it." Tsukuyomi did not seem to be trying to listen anymore as she had sort of casually tried walking off to the kitchen before falling on her face with a loud thud. Index yelped as the pink-haired teacher fell on her face and then looked at Kamijou concernedly.

"Well… She'll be fine. She's short so she shouldn't take that much damage from falling like that… S-stop looking at me like that, I'll help her up!" Index naturally had not bought Kamijou's strange reasoning regarding face-falling-damage and had just stared at him angrily until he decided to do something rational. Kamijou carefully picked up his teacher and then went to set her down on the sole futon in the apartment.

"She shouldn't be in any grave danger. Ah, just be careful not to touch the command spell with your right hand." Kamijou quickly put his hands up in the air as if he had suddenly been busted by the police, eventually settling on sitting down then placing his hands behind his head to take a nonchalant pose. As soon as the right hand of exorcism made itself to the back of his head, the strange sound produced by collapsing magic could be heard, eliciting a "huh?" from Kamijou.

"Why didn't it work? First my Ethelite doesn't function at all, and then it got destroyed by that right hand… that thing seems to be able to completely subvert my calculations…" At the sudden intrusion of a new voice, Index and Kamijou turned around swiftly to behold the person standing at the entrance of Tsukuyomi's apartment.

At where the now demolished door was supposed to stand stood instead a female of below average height. She was wearing a large purple robe adorned with golden adornments along with a matching beret. In fact, her hair too, matched her clothing, it being purple and arranged into a long braid that reached down to her knees. As Index and Kamijou sat stunned and beheld the stranger she suddenly pulled out a gun, aiming it at the Level 0. It was a simple, modern .8mm caliber handgun, at least on the surface.

"Eh? Eh? Wha-what have I done? Please don't shoot!" But Kamijou barely had any time to voice his protests. The finger on the trigger calmly pressed down, followed by the sound of gunpowder igniting, firing a bullet out of the gun. In his protests, Kamijou had put his hands in front of his chest, and as he had noticed the pulling of the trigger, his right hand had automatically moved to intercept it. Nonetheless, a shrieking sound erupted as the bullet collided with the right hand, resulting in it shattering as if it had been an illusion all along. The casing that had been ejected out of the gun hit the floor.

"Not even the Barrel Replica can penetrate it? Odd." Kamijou was almost as shocked as the gunwoman. Firstly, he had not even intended for his right hand to get in the way, it had just sort of happened; secondly, he knew that there was no way for his right hand to protect against guns, or at least that seemed logical to him, it could not protect against knives after all.

'_Does that mean… It's some sort of magical gun? It doesn't look it though...'_ Still keeping his eyes on the intruder, Kamijou got up from sitting down and faced her, extending his right hand to intercept any shots from the gun. There was a small lapse of silence. There was not a second shot so far. The intruder seemed half-distant as she assessed the situation. She then chose to speak.

"I see. Please surrender and give up the Index. I will not hurt you or the person on the bed if you comply." Her gun was still pointed at him as she issued her warning. But for Kamjiou, accepting such a demand was the last thing he would do. He had two options, one guaranteed his safety while the other did not, but had the additional advantage of giving him the opportunity of protecting Index. For Kamijou, his own safety was rarely the first concern, so there was no doubt in his choice. He did not even know the reasons for this persons attack, but right now, that did not matter.

"No way in hell!" There was not any verbal response from the gunwoman, her reply instead being the pulling of the trigger on the gun. Imagine Breaker was ready and as soon as her finger could be observed pulling the trigger, the hand had already placed itself in the trajectory of the bullet. But this time there was not just a single bullet being fired. It was a burst of three rounds. Kamijou felt like time was slowing down as he realized what was happening. Every round came at a different trajectory too, pushing the right hand of exorcism's to the limit.

The first bullet was blocked effortlessly, but after that, Kamijou did not even know if he could block or not. However, these unimaginably fast attacks had been unleashed upon him a lot more lately, as he got sucked into the world of magic, so he was getting more acquainted to the strange burst of information that entered his mind to tell his hand exactly how to handle them, despite Imagine Breaker being restricted to the slow speeds of his right hand. It was unreal, but the information came and was swallowed by him instinctively, causing the hand to move in a spastic fashion, blocking the two remaining bullets without Kamijou ever even understanding how.

The three supersonic, tiny projectiles that had been perfectly predicted and dealt with using the least amount of motion, harmfully bounced off of Kamijou's fist. Imagine Breaker continued to baffle him and his opponent. Those bullets were real, but the magic inside them made the hand react to them and stop their motion. Just how exactly did the thing work? The clash was but a second long, after which Kamijou realized that relying on his strange predictive ability was an unstable solution at best. For now, offense would be his best defense. If he could get into close range and disarm her or simply try and keep the gun from firing by occupying her elsewhere that would be much preferable to blindly hoping that his right hand could take a full auto from the gun

An additional burst came just as Kamijou readied himself to charge. His hand was in position and once again did its job marvelously. One, two, three bullets had been neutralized as Kamijou rapidly approached the intruder's position. Only one more bullet could be fired, this one too, being rendered completely harmless, before Kamijou came in melee range and simply pushed the arm holding the gun out to the side as he entered her guard and then launched a vicious right hook using the Imagine Breaker. The punch connected right on her cheek, bruising it and stunning her briefly, giving enough time for Kamijou to do a follow up. He opted for swinging his right hand again, this time going for her midriff. Once again, it was a clean hit, though not with quite as much power, this time actually managing to unbalance the gunwoman.

Then Kamijou did something he rarely even considered, he pulled back his left arm, reading it for striking and then sent it flying into her face, completing his three-hit combo. It was an odd feeling to use his left hand with such power. The last strike was enough to send the intruder tumbling out of the apartment, causing her to collide with the railing of the walkway.

"Touma! I-" Index, who had been cowering during the small bout between the gun wielding intruder and Kamijou, tried voicing her opinion, but the one to receive it, the Imagine Breaker boy, unconcernedly cut her off.

"No, I'll beat the shit out of her. Then I can listen to you _and_ her if she so wishes." Before even finishing half of his sentence, Kamijou was already pursuing the gunwoman. This time, however, she seemed more prepared, as she dodged out of the way as he came down upon her with his fist. She jumped down the staircase onto the asphalt of the road below with surprising agility, considering she had so easily been hit by Kamijou. Perhaps her shock at getting her bullets nullified had gotten to her in that particular instance.

Kamijou pursued desperately, instantly assuming that she was going to pull out the gun again. However, instead she actually pulled off her thick, purple robes, throwing them aside, revealing another garb underneath. She wore a very revealing but probably combat fit gear. A stylish gold ornamented, purple blouse with a white miniskirt accompanied by purple thigh highs.

Descending the stairs at high speed was, for Kamijou, a rather disorienting experience, but he did not fall, something that would have proven a fatal mistake in battle, and successfully made it down to the asphalt road in order to assault the purple-clad intruder once again, his right fist raised high. The gunwoman seemed to have abandoned any thoughts of using her "Barrel Replica", as she instead steadied herself for the incoming assault, assuming a very non-descript stance.

The predictable right hook of the Imagine Breaker swung down upon the ready purple-clad woman, missing as she easily avoided the strike by moving her head to the right. Naturally, Kamijou struck again, using his left arm to deliver another blow. This too, was effortlessly avoided by the woman, who after avoiding the second strike, easily slunk into Kamijou guard and planted a heavy punch right in his face, as payback for what he had done before. A pained noised erupted from Kamijou's throat as he got hit in the head, his immediate reaction being to swiftly back off and put up his arms to guard his face.

However, it had been a mistake. He had not been able to tell due to the concussion he had suffered after being pummeling in the head, but she had not intended for a follow up to his head, instead swinging her right leg in one mighty motion straight into his chest. It was an enormously powerful kick, making Kamijou expel the little food he had consumed that day straight out of his stomach and sending him flying a few meters. But his constitution was a truly immense thing, he felt damaged, but fuck all in hell was he giving up.

'_Ugh… She's stronger than me. I have never met someone so strong, at least not a human this strong. "I shouldn't be able to win", is that what you're telling me, body? But who cares. If I get knocked down one-million times I'll just have to stand up one-million times.'_ Kamijou spat out some blood that had made it into his mouth as he tried to stabilize after having been blown away at least three whole meters. Obviously, as he looked up his first instinct was to extend the Imagine Breaker, in preparation for the worst, that is, if the intruder had pulled out her gun again. However, as Kamijou's regained his balance and was able to see again, he noticed that she had not been trying to shoot him, apparently having abandoned that tactic after it got countered so easily before.

On the other hand, the awkward way in which Kamijou had placed his arm after misjudging the situation meant that he did not have much of an answer for when the woman came charging at him again. He was half able to setup his guard again as a heavy strike was unleashed at his head, resulting in him being able to negate some of the damage, but definitely not enough, as the fist hit him hard enough that his guarding hands were pushed back and struck his head with such force that his vision blurred up.

The purple-clad intruder continued her vicious beating. Every hit that connected had an almost machine like precision to it. They were not fists that held any form of emotion in their clenched grasp. As if acting out her part in a play, the woman assaulted Kamijou with pure professionalism. But that did not mean that it did not hurt. Kamijou struggled to even keep himself from fainting on the spot. Strike after strike collided with his guard, showing no sign of relenting and leaving no chance for him to retaliate.

His teeth clenched so hard that Kamijou felt as if they could shatter any second. He received every hit. But then, after blocking a particularly heavy strike, his mind, having been filled with frustration at not being able to do anything, acted upon its emotional state and attacked. It was not a safe attack and would surely result in more pain for him than his assailant. But at this point pain did not mean anything to him, so he attacked. They hit each other at the same time, their fist crossing as they passed over their respective arms. The place of impact was the same, their right fists landing on the left cheek of their opponent. Kamijou felt that he must have lost consciousness for at least half a second after taking the blow.

When Kamijou's vision returned, no good news awaited him, as he had even stumbled slightly after being hit. The woman did not seem to have been quite as bothered from the cross counter exchange as Kamijou had, once again, her leg was approaching after confirming a heavy hit. The sweeping motion was massive and had quite a start up time, so Kamijou at least had time to brace himself for it and block. As the strike came though, his uneven foothold caused him to tumble off the ground, painfully landing on the hard asphalt with his left side.

'_I CANNOT. ALLOW. HER TO. TAKE. ADVANTAGE. OF THIS. OPENING'_ Kamijou had the feeling that concentrating his mind right now was more harmful to him than just lying down and accepting defeat, as he could almost hear his entire body telling him to give up. But he could not give up. Index would be taken and he could not allow that to happen. He did not even know what would happen if Index got taken, but there was no need to think about it, because it was not going to happen.

"IT'S NOT GONNA HAPPEN!" Imagine Breaker struck out with a vicious backhand as the woman approached his lying position. It was an almost impossible act for Kamijou's weathered body. The strike actually almost hit the woman, who managed to dodge in the last second by halting her downwards assault on him. Kamijou had already given his legs the command to stand up, but they were not very good at complying. They were not very good, but they did their best and shakily managed to get him up on his feet again.

This time the woman's assault was not halted, coming straight for his jaw line again, successfully managing to plant the fist with a powerful impact. Kamijou had grit his teeth and almost felt them falling out of place as the blow landed. His brain should once again be concussed long enough for a safe follow up for the purple-clad woman. It should have been, Kamijou knew that, but he did not allow it, he did not allow his brain to be concussed. His eyes were wide open, forced open, as the blow dug into his cheek.

Kamijou did not put up his guard afterwards. No, he instead went for the cross counter again. Completely reckless, seeing as how the last time it did not work out very well. But what other options did he have? That was Kamijou's reasoning, that, and truckloads of unbridled emotion. Frustration, anger and a complete lack of fear combined with utter decisiveness. He was taking this woman down. There was no other option.

Once again, they exchanged blows, the force boring into Kamijou's brain a second time in the span of just a second. But he did not show weakness. He could not have blinked for at least ten seconds now. He could not think, but he did not need to. Automatically, his left fist readied itself for another cross counter. They exchanged blows, again, again and again. Kamijou was barely conscious, he felt like his brain was gradually being turned into a mush after each strike. But after going through this unrefined and completely insane fighting pattern a few times, something happened. Kamijou's sheer determination and disregard for his own being led to an unexpected advantage.

There was not another cross counter. Only a single fist made it this time. It was Kamijou's right fist, the right hand of exorcism. He did not even have enough mental capacity to be surprised at his achievement, instead just continuing his crazed assault. It was not a fighting style. He just repeatedly drove his fists into his opponents head. After a few successful strikes, the woman's guard was up, placing her on the defensive.

But after a few blocked strikes, Kamijou grew frustrated and attempted to break the stalemate. Both of his hands, this time not clenched into fists, came down on the intruder's arms at the same time. He had grabbed her by her wrists and then pulled on them with all the strength he could muster, pulling them apart in the process, revealing her head behind them. Then he head butted her. It had hurt. But pain had stopped mattering a long time ago. Though the woman obviously should have been surprised at the assault, her visage was completely relaxed as Kamijou's forehead struck her own. She had seen it coming, but had not had enough power to stop it.

Kamijou's forehead was bleeding slightly as he followed up his attack by dragging down on her hands and pushing his knee straight up into her stomach then releasing his grasp on her wrists and driving the Imagine Breaker straight into her face again. She lost her balance and fell after that last hit. But Kamijou did not allow that as his left hand had already stretched itself out to take a hold of her collar, halting her descent. Then the now bloodied right hand of exorcism came down on her nose from above, brutally slamming her down onto the asphalt road. For the first time, the woman let out a small noise of discomfort.

However, Kamijou did not relent. He got on top of her, sitting down on her chest and then continued pummeling her head. After the first ten blows blood started appearing after each strike, staining both of Kamijou's fists crimson. He sat there, in a trance, beating a now defenseless girl without any mercy. It was when a drop of blood hit his face that he suddenly realized what he was doing. He blinked wildly for a second and then took a hold of his victim's collar again, staring down on her injured face with a surprised look. She stared back at him, one of her eyes swollen. They sat there for a few seconds, breathing heavily. Kamijou finally regained enough of his mental capacity to say something.

"Why are you taking Index? Why does everyone refer to her as 'the Index'? She's a person! You're not taking her away! I'll protect her, for her, for myself and even for that temperamental fire magician!" The woman coughed as she tried initiating her first attempt at answering him, spitting out some blood along with the saliva. Despite the fact that she should be in an almost dead state, she still had enough left in her to actually answer him. What was even more was that she actually did not look surprised, upset or otherwise bothered by her loss. After a few painful moments of spitting out blood, she answered him.

"She was born, raised and purposed for the sole reason of carrying those grimoires. Her entire being is devoted to them. She has had no say in her life and in addition, she cannot grow more than one year old before she is reset. There is no person in that body. Much like there is no chick inside an egg." They did not sound like words to be argued with, but each time the woman rasped out a pained sentence, Kamijou grew more and more angry.

"What? What the hell? 'She cannot grow more than one year old'? 'There is no person in that body'? Are you fucking with me? HOW CAN YOU DEPERSONLIZE SOMEONE THAT MUCH, HUH?" Kamijou's face grimaced horribly as he spoke with the woman, his rage starting to permeate every part of his body as he had to hold back in order to not deck her in the face again.

"Index Librorum Prohibitorum, who holds 103,000 grimoires memorized inside her head, has to be memory wiped approximately once every year as so that she does not die from information overload. Naturally, the only memories they remove are her personal ones, the grimoires remain intact. Thus, she is reborn once every year." There was no hesitation, emotion or remorse in those words. Kamijou could tell that there was no point refuting these statements. They were fact. But what kind of man simply accepts facts?

"SO THAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO TREAT HER LIKE A SUBHUMAN? LIKE A POSSESSION TO BE ARGUED OVER LIKE A TREASURE? IF THAT IS REALLY WHAT YOU THINK, THEN I'LL CRUSH THAT ILLUSION OF YOURS!" The purple-clad woman just blinked calmly in face of his verbal assault, which was accompanied by him roughly shaking her.

"No. But what are you doing? Protecting her? Don't you understand? There's been about a year since she last had her memories erased… Is it starting to puzzle itself together in there? Stiyl is the only one nearby with knowledge of the memory erasure process, aside from my employer, and that fire magician is probably going to be bedridden for a day or two. When you hit me, you hit the Index. You're the one killing her, not me." Kamijou still held her collar tightly in his two hands, but after that, he felt crushed. More so than any of the blows that he had endured in that battle could have made him feel.

"…" One little girl. He could not even protect that. Useless. He was useless. He, completely stunned, stared into the darkness of the road that they had fought on. Suddenly something poked on his stomach. It was a cold, metallic object.

"I'll be taking her then." A gunshot echoed throughout District 7 of Academy City. Blood spread out on the pale-white summer-uniform shirt worn by Kamijou. His insides were churning and it felt like a fire occupied his stomach. It was his first time experiencing the feeling of being shot. He almost nonchalantly let go the gunwoman's collar and then collapsed on top of her. She heaved his body of hers and then calmly, with all her bruises, just walked away, but not before saying one last thing to the dying Kamijou.

"Right makes might? Do you believe that? Is that why you lost? Regardless, it still stands, that my victory was one with words only. You were a strange boy for a simple high school student. I don't like saying it, but that hand is scary. Rest in Peace." Then she disappeared, off to fetch Index.

With the moon shining dimly on his face, Kamijou lay on the coarse asphalt road, bleeding from a bullet wound in his gut. He had already expended all his stamina on the fight, so he felt completely powerless to anything after having been dealt the finishing blow of the gun. His fluids were leaving his body, draining his life in the process. Suddenly the summer night was not so warm anymore. He lay there, waiting for his death.

"Kamijou-kun! Eh, Lancer… wha" A faint sound entered Kamijou's ears as he felt his consciousness slipping. It was the voice of Tohsaka Rin. Footsteps and all kinds of annoying sounds accompanied the voice. Kamijou felt like someone had woke him up at 4 AM in the morning after he had only slept for two hours. It was annoying to him. 'Just let me sleep', he thought.

"Kamijou-kun! Can you hear me? Shit… How did this happen…" Something warm that made Kamijou feel like he wanted to puke made itself into the wound on his stomach, after which his eyes closed and promptly lost consciousness.

- Epilogue -

The hospital in District 7 of Academy City was headed by an odd, short, old man whose primary policy was the purest of all motivations. He never wanted to see any of his patients die. He always said "As long as you come here alive, I'll take care of the rest." It was said that nobody had died when he personally headed the operations.

It was here that, after the events of July that started on the 19th that two magicians and one Level 0 ESPer rested after having been mortally wounded, each of them in a different fashion. The first one had been extremely exhausted, to the point of near-death. The second one had been "mentally crippled"; the hospital was still in argument over the nature of the boy's condition. The last one had been fatally shot in the stomach and had arrived at the hospital without a beat in his heart, but was now in a stable condition thanks to the elderly doctor having personally taken care of his operation.

On this day, there were also three people there to visit the victims of the night/morning transition of July the 20th/21st. None of them were normal people either, though one of them had been up until the events of that fateful night, which had played out three days ago. The first one was an esteemed magician in the association with specialization in jewel magic. The second one was a petite pink haired teacher of a certain high school in Academy City. The last one was a Heroic Spirit whose existence could be tracked back several thousand years.

They were all wearing casual, light clothes befitting of summer attire. Karna, despite being an ancient hero of myth, wore this too. He had a simple white, long sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans on. In order to hide his more strange features, he also wore a pair of gloves and shades. Whenever someone asked about his peculiar appearance, he just said he was an albino, not the son of Divinity, which was the real cause of his complexion and hair color. He did not like lying, especially after all the pain it had caused him in life, but he had to in order to meet his Master's expectations. The shades were there to cover up his blue eyes, something which albinos did not possess.

When the three of them entered the lobby in which mostly-recovered patients sometimes wandered around, they were able to meet the temperamental magician by the name of Stiyl Magnus. He wore a white hospital gown, which despite probably being the largest size the hospital could offer, was not large enough for him. His head was buried in his hands as he sat upon one of the benches setup in the lobby. He was pretty much alone in the lobby, the only other person being a secretary who was very occupied with writing something on her computer.

"Oh, Hey Stiyl! Seems like you're feeling better today! So they let you out…" Tohsaka Rin was the one to start the conversation. Her mood had been down the slumps the first two days after the three injured male teenagers had been admitted to the hospital. It was only after Kamijou's survival had been guaranteed that she had loosened up. Stiyl looked up with a sour expression on his face as he was greeted.

"Hello. Yeah, they pushed me out saying I 'should get some air' or something." He relaxed slightly as he spoke, but still looked rather angry, his voice strained as he tried talking casually. Tsukuyomi and Karna stood behind Tohsaka, they were both not really here for Stiyl anyways, this was the first time they really met the boy.

"You look upset… What's the matter? " A small, almost mocking, snicker made itself out of Stiyl as Tohsaka asked him a rather insensitive question. Nevertheless, it did not seem like he got any madder at her asking, rather, it almost calmed him down.

"Well, let's just say that if it was not for the fact that he is currently close to dying anyways, I'd be glad to kill that Imagine Breaker boy myself. I can't believe that this was the result of our struggle, just one weak link and our objective of safeguarding Index went completely awry… At least 'we' killed one of the 27 Dead Apostle Ancestors in the process…" Stiyl glanced quickly at Karna as he said "we", actually even visually indicting the quotation marks with his hands.

"Hmm… I sort of figured that was the case. But don't worry about Index, her memories are probably erased by now, meaning, she is alive. I think you might have a rather good guess at who arranged her capture, so we just have to get her back, that's all. Kamijou-kun is important, so please spare him your anger when are in a professional situation later." Stiyl leaned back and stretched his arms above his head as he listened to Tohsaka. Of course they were all things he suspected, no… rather, things he knew.

"Aurelous Izzard… Well, that was why we were sent her in the first place anyways, right? Let's just say that all the anger I have pent up at that annoying right hand brat can now be directed at a more suitable target… I never liked him in the first place anyways. Good to know I can burn his eyes out now… But if he has help now, are just we going to be enough?" Tohsaka scratched her head as Stiyl ended his sentence. God knows, he was a violent person for someone from the church. Then again, faith was secondary within Necessarius anyways.

"Ah, don't worry about that, I have arranged for an old friend of mine to help us out. Well whatever… we're going visiting the other two. Do you want to come?" Stiyl shook his head at her request and put up his hands in an excusing fashion.

"Nah. If I visit that Imagine Breaker boy I might end up blowing up the hospital. I don't want to accidently reveal our secret in Academy City because of something stupid like that." Naturally "revealing our secret" was the most harmful thing that could happen, not the other patients that would inevitably perish in the explosion. Tohsaka sighed and then said her goodbye to Stiyl. Tsukuyomi and Karna also politely said their farewells to the fire magician.

The three uninjured persons continued their trek through the hospital, having already memorized the rooms in which Tsuchimikado and Kamijou were located. The white corridors of the hospital were lit up by the rays of the summer sun. Academy City hospitals were the most advanced and reliable in the entire world and as such, even their hygiene and comfort factor were the best as well.

They collectively first tried to visit Kamijou's room, knocking on the locked door, having already received permission from the secretary, that is, Tohsaka had mind-controlled her into giving it to them, to visit the high school student. After a few seconds the door opened, revealing the old, frog-faced doctor that owned the hospital. He had a gentle and serene expression on his face as he saw them. Tohsaka always felt like there was something more to that man's way of approaching them. She had never had to tamper with his head using magic because he always seemed to know what they wanted and often complied willingly without any complaints.

"Oh, here to see Kamijou Touma I presume? Unless you were looking for little old me, hohoho… Well I doubt that… Anyways, the patient is not in good enough condition to accept any visitors yet, I'm sorry. But I heard from the other team that it is possible to talk to Tsuchimikado Motoharu again. We still don't know what exactly is wrong with him, but purely physically he seems to be in absolutely fine condition, if a bit exhausted. I'll allow you to visit him." The three of them listened patiently as the doctor spoke before thanking him and then excusing themselves to go meet the possibly recovered Tsuchimikado.

When they knocked on the door to Tsuchimikado's room, which was in the same corridor as Kamijou's, they were greeted by a nurse who let them in without much hassle. The small room was occupied with by two beds, but only the one closest to the windows was currently in use, where a half sitting Tsuchimikado was placed, his head turned to the window. He might have noticed that he had visitors, but certainly did not act upon it if that was the case. A small silence broke out and Tsukuyomi, of all people, broke it.

"Tsu-tsuchimikado-kun, how are you feeling?" It took a few seconds before Tsuchimikado even turned around and looked at them. His face was not one of sorrow; not one of confusion; not one of pain; not one of anger; not one of happiness or one of understanding. It was an expression that should not be worn by a 16 year old. It was blank, as if he had not learned how to emote yet. It was just an observant stare.

"I think I'm fine." All the knowledge was still there. He knew who the three visitors were. However, his knowledge was no longer connected to him. It was like reading it out of a book. He could not feel like he had been there when his memories had been shaped. Tsukuyomi Komoe, teacher. Tohsaka Rin, magician. "Lancer", Heroic Spirit. He knew that he knew them, but felt like he did not. So he stared. Tohsaka looked at him concernedly, frowning and then opening her mouth to speak.

"…" But nothing came out. Tsuchimikado just kept his eyes on them, no discernible emotion present on his visage. A fractured soul, kept in check by a single string. The main heir of the prestigious Tsuchimikado bloodline was essentially no more. His identity had been shattered into a million pieces, leaving his mind with only the leftover pieces to puzzle together.

Tohsaka averted her gaze, staring down at the floor and then put her face into the palms of her hands. Tsukuyomi's eyes were starting to moisten, her hands tightly holding onto Lancer's body as support.

This was not the victory they deserved. In fact, it was not even a victory at all.

- Author's notes –

I am sorry for the wait, I suppose. My chapters are always gigantic and I have to look through and evaluate a lot of stuff by myself. If someone would like to beta this for me, I would appreciate it.

Right, so let us talk Tsuchimikado Motoharu. He is the main heir of the Tsuchimikado family, whom claim to have their roots in historical figure Abe no Seimei, who invented Onmyoudou in the 11th century. In real life they practiced the art all the way into the 18th century. He managed to achieve Level 4 through co-operation with the Magician's Association, whom took note of his ability to survive casting magic as an ESPer. By having a working example of a Magician/ESP-hybrid they were able to divine the functions behind Gemstones and ESPers, which is rooted in the inner world related to Reality Marbles. This also allowed for Tsuchimikado to develop a Reality Marble of his own, though this is the first time he has ever used it. The magical array on his back is a "shortcut" to using it that he had assistance in developing so that he would not have to waste time learning to properly cast it (He is a very busy young man). On a little side note, his Mystic Code are the camera roll film containers packed with origami, very fitting of his undercover status, but slightly underwhelming. Still, for a 16-year old magician, he is very impressive, a born genius. Sadly, all these tools were not nearly enough against the 10th Dead Apostle Ancestor. Once again, I feel very inadequate for not being able to weave this into the narrative, as I found no way of doing so without ruining the suspense. Perhaps some other chapter...

As for actually writing him… Well, I did not want to _just_ have him be the same as he was in Index, so I improvised a little. I am sure that I will receive some complaints concerning how he is too powerful or something. In reality, he is not that strong, but still, a very capable magician. He also had to pay a huge price doing what he did this chapter and even for that, he needed help. Oh yeah, when I was writing the first chapter I forgot that he likes to put cat sounds in his sentences when he is being goofy. I think I will just drop that? Might find the drive to go back and edit.

I made some weak attempts at covering up Lancer's identity until Nrvnqsr reveals it this chapter. Most people already knew who it was so there was not really any surprise to be had, but I wanted it to have a proper reveal, I guess.

Kamijou lost his marbles this chapter. I refer to the Deep Blood arc in which he almost strangles Aureolus Dummy to death using the poor fake alchemist's own chain, just before he realizes he is about to kill someone, and stops. (This was cut from the anime)

Also, I retract my statement about the dragon. It actually does appear in the Tsukihime VN, but only for a few very insignificant lines where it is referred to as a "huge, winged lizard" after which Shiki kills it before it is able to fully emerge. Something else about Nrvnqsr, I always refer to his animals as "black" even though they are grey in Melty Blood and Tsukihime… I just like black more, that is all there is to it.

I would like to thank Beast's Lair and Wikipedia for providing me with the resources needed to write this chapter. This segment became gigantic (and I even want to write more here, bad me)… I am truly sorry! See you next time?


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